SCRIPTURE READINGS
Fourteenth Sunday, July 5, 2026

Biblical Readings Online Here 
(Year A in the three-year cycle of readings) 

The New Testament uses a strange word for God’s revelation — mystery. “Mystery’ in the Bible has a different meaning than our meaning of “an unsolved or insoluble problem.” “Mystery” is God’s plan for human beings and requires an announcement to people on earth by a human intermediary such as Moses, Jesus, or Paul. 

St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians (3:4-6) is a good example of the word: “When you read this you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to human beings in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus invites us: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Strange at first hearing, Jesus promises rest by laying a yoke on us, for a yoke is the heavy and uncomfortable device that enables pairs of oxen to pull heavy loads. By Jesus’s time, however, “yoke” had become a metaphor for the sacred traditions. Sirach in the second century BCE urged his students, “Take [Wisdom’s] yoke upon your neck; that your mind may receive her teaching” (51:26). By becoming Jesus’s disciples, accepting one’s yoke meant entering a relationship with him. By becoming Jesus’s disciple, we share his relationship with the Father. Only a few lines before today’s gospel, Jesus tells us that the Father has hidden these things from the wise and given them to “little ones,” that is, Christian disciples who make no pretense of knowing all the answers. Jesus “knows” the Father in the full Semitic sense of knowing, including deep intimacy and approval. We share that relationship. Jesus will show us who God is, for he is the human face of God.

Richard Clifford, S.J., has taught biblical studies for 55 years, most recently at the Clough School of Theology and Ministry, Boston College, and has written many scholarly and popular books and articles.