Back to the gospel of Matthew today (chapters 11-13).
Notes follow:
Matthew 11:18-30 (NIV)
28Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
This passage promises that following Christ will bring peace, and it’s a comfort to many people. After all, who wouldn’t want to find rest for their soul? And who wouldn’t accept Christ to obtain such a benefit, if following Him is not burdensome?
Verse 30 simply puzzles me, though. I understand the peace that comes from a right relationship with God… of having forgiveness for sins… of having eternity secured. There’s no need to fear God’s wrath toward our sins if we’ve been forgiven… no need to fear death when we know that heaven awaits us when we pass from this world.
But “my yoke is easy and my burden is light”? I’ve not experienced that to a large extent in my walk with Christ. It’s not that the commands of Christ themself are unappealing… but my execution? It’s struggle after struggle. My soul IS burdened by my seeming inability to follow through on Christ’s commands. It DOES bother me when I fall short. It IS difficult to do some things God expects of me.
So I struggle with this verse, not because works mean anything in regard to salvation… not because there’s a lack of joy in doing things for God… but simply because following Christ itself is NOT easy.
Am I the only one who just doesn’t get this verse most of the time?
Matthew 13:24-30 (NIV)
24Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.27“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
28” ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’29” ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’ “
If we Christians are the wheat, and non-Christians are the weeds, isn’t the teaching of Christ here that we’re supposed to live amongst those who don’t believe? Sounds awful contrary to the life most of us believers live… a life segregated from those that need Christ most.
I think the phrase ‘We are supposed to live in the world, but not of the world’ applies here. I think we as a church have done exactly what you are saying, in segregating ourselves from the world, of sorts. This is like an attempt at a defense mechanism or a shield from the sin of the world. But,if we do this, and I believe we are. How can we advance the Gospel? I really don’t think that God wants us to live in a bubble and just wait our turn to enter into Heaven…
If I may add some to todays reading. One of my favorite parables comes from chapter 13 and the farmer scattering the seed. If we are going to live in this world and be a light for Christ, we have to be like the seed that was firmly rooted or we will get blown away.
You’re always welcome to share here, Tom. In fact, knowing the parable of the sower is one of your favorites, I intentionally didn’t write about it, figuring you’d have something to say. 🙂
On another note, isn’t it interesting how many Biblical concepts appear to be in tension with one another? I’m thinking specifically back to the “my yoke is easy and my burden is light passage”, and how this seems to be in tension with Jesus urging us to “count the cost” of following Him and the concept of carrying our cross. Many others out there of course.
All of these things continually highlight to me how we simply can’t build a box big enough to contain God. His ways are truly not ours, and it’s simply impossible for us to get a full understanding of how He works.