My Burden is Light

This is the text of a talk I gave on Sunday, April 24, 2016.

Let’s start with Matthew 11:28-30.

²⁸ “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Now I know these verses are well known, and are pretty self-explanatory. But, if you indulge me for a moment, let me propose this.

I’d like to put forth to you a different idea about what these verses might mean.

Let’s look at the first part of that phrase, “For my yoke is easy…..” .  The Greek word used here is phortion which means burden, but also translates as load or cargo.  Are you familiar with yokes? My understanding is they usually deal with something that brings two animals together in order to make the work being done easier, or at least a shared effort. So, if I’m reading this correctly, Jesus is offering us a spot in his yoke, his team, his involvement in our lives. But, what I have come to realize is if we are yoked to Jesus, the Son of God, then it’s likely he’ll take on the lion’s share of effort. He asks that we allow Him to carry our concerns and worries.

Our cargo, what we carry, are the cares of this world, our human trappings, our attitudes, our stuff, our dwelling in the darkness that surrounds us……… everything that weighs us down, and causes us to stumble. There has been plenty of this in my life. I’ve been stubborn, selfish, egotistical, foolish, impulsive….. you, know, human, or, if you will, a guy.  We all can make our own lists. Jesus asks us to join Him, and He will take all of that on Himself, transforming it, and giving us a lightness.

There a song about a son trying to patch things up with his father that sums up this relationship Christ want with us. Here’s the first part of it:

"Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own"

Tough, you think you've got the stuff
You're telling me and anyone
You're hard enough

You don't have to put up a fight
You don't have to always be right
Let me take some of the punches
For you tonight

Listen to me now
I need to let you know
You don't have to go it alone

And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you when I don't pick up the phone
Sometimes you can't make it on your own – U2

Let me tell you a story. I have a tendency to walk around my house at night and not turn on any lights. I figure I’ve been living here a while, so I pretty much know where things are, so no problems. Well, as you can probably guess, things happen which cause other things which cause other things, and so on and so on. Well, one of these happened when we had kids. Growing up, we wanted to give our boys toys which were not only fun, but also fired their imagination. That’s when the first LEGOs came into the house. Now, everything was fine as long as they were all picked up and put away before the boys went to bed. But, it always seemed some rogue LEGOs hid themselves in the carpeting in the living room, and search as we may, never were found when it was time to be put away. Well, that’s where my walking around the house at night without lights brought about the problems. Seems I was always able to find one or two of the strays as I navigated the house. And they weren’t the bigger one, NOOOOO! It was always the smallest and sharpest that booby-trapped my path. If only I’d been smart enough to turn a light on so I could at least stand a better chance of avoiding these pitfalls. If only I’d not been so arrogant, and just turned on the lights. What harm would that do? Funny how we all stumble around in the darkness of our lives, hardly aware of any hidden dangers, when all we would have to do is turn on the Light.

Let’s look at our verses again. ²⁸ “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Consider this: Jesus carried the burden of bringing Light into the world. So, we need not only to think of a light burden as one which isn’t as heavy as it could be or once was, but we can also think about the Light as something to be carried into the world, an observable, compassionate Light meant to change us all. Not only was Jesus the Light, He bore the Light, and also gave us the ability and responsibility to carry the Light to those around us.

Let me give you a couple of examples from Scripture to further show you how Christ brings Light into our world.

From Matthew 17:1-5 - 17 “Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. ² And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. ³ Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. ⁴ Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁵ While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”

Who is the bearer of the light in this scene? Jesus, of course, and His appearance at this time could be seen as a prelude to the Light found in the New Jerusalem in the book of Revelation. (The Greek word for this light is phos, which translates daylight or firelight, something which dispels the darkness around it). You have to admit, this is a pretty impressive, persuasive display, not meant to show off Jesus’ power, but to give the disciples the idea of the purpose of His life, and the Presence of our Creator in him.

Have you ever felt like saying, “Y’know, God, if you’d just show it all to me, I’d be okay. At least I’d know what coming and what it’s all about”? Just think about that for a moment. Do you think your head could handle all that, and the implications of that sort of knowledge? Have you ever been presented with too much to think about or information beyond what you could comprehend at the time? So, look at what the disciples had shown to them. Could you go through a Transfiguration moment? If your spiritual leader started to glow in front of you, what would you do? They offered to build tents to worship. But Jesus wanted to give them a glimpse of His glory. How different would have things been if He walked around like that all the time. But, He didn’t. He gave people what they could deal with and understand.

Let’s look in Revelation for another example of this.

At beginning of Revelation, in  1:12-16, John recorded this: “¹² Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, ¹³ and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest. ¹⁴ His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, ¹⁵ his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. ¹⁶ In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining with full force.”

So, then what happens? We continue in the passage with the next couple of verses: “¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!” John fell down in front of this display.

 I mean, this freaked John the Apostle out, so you can only imagine how we’d handle it. (I can, however, see Jesus telling John not to be afraid as sort of a wink and a “Hey, it’s me. You’ve seen this before). The image used here is akin to us staring into the sun, or an extremely bright explosion. Not only is it dangerous, but our minds would have a difficult time processing what was happening.  Again, this supports why God doesn’t show everything to us. He knows we would be overwhelmed and confused to the point of not knowing what to do. Instead of doing that, Jesus reveals the light we need when we need it, in the doses and amounts we can handle, even giving us clues as to understanding it. Having experienced humanity, He well understands us and our limitations, but He also gets our capacity to learn and reason.

I’m not advocating that we just sit around and wait for God to give us a peek into what is in store for us. Those little moments, when they happen, are priceless, but should not be the only source of the Light. No, we are to pursue the Light, searching for it in our daily lives. The simplest way is to dive into Scripture. A morning or evening devotional time is a good start. In these times, we can read our Bible, then reread the passage, working on unpacking what we find in there. A good commentary, or even a devotional guide like Daily Bread, Guideposts, or Men of Integrity can be useful in establishing the groundwork for reflection.  Through this discipline, we can center on how God’s Word can be applied to our lives, and we can gain comfort knowing we are not alone, and also wisdom through our own thinking, and by reading what others have to say about the passage.

It’s a very worthwhile habit to develop.

Story number two: Memorial Day, 2013………… the day I died……………. I had people asking me all sorts of questions, like if I saw certain people over there, or did I get a glimpse of the “list”……. But the most common questions was, “Did you see the “light”? We have made this light into some sort of proof of having died, but coming back. I’m sure there are those who had this experience, but I’m not one of them.

But then I started thinking, maybe the “light” seen at times like that comes at different times for different people. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to have the “cookie cutter” near death experiences popularized by books, magazines, and movies. I guess that shows I don’t do things according to what’s normal.

Maybe, my seeing of the light is supposed to be after I was brought back. If that’s true, then I needed to look and recognize where the Light was to be found, and ask how has this experience changed me?

Looking back, the series of events that kept me here is truly amazing. From the cardiologist whose house I happened to go down in front of, to the quick response of the EMTs and ambulance, through the lifeflight to Cleveland Clinic, and the skills of those doctors.  All worked together, and I see them now as God’s Light in my life. I am a whole lot more relaxed and laid back now. My priorities have been realigned. I still get upset, but not over petty, trivial things. There was been a lifting of a darkness, and a wanting to walk in the light as much as possible, with a heavy load lifted from me. I see this as the work of Jesus in my environment, and in my heart. But, it also changed my attitude about how I treat other people. If I’ve received this great light, then it’s up to me not to hog it all, but to pass it around to as many as I can. Outwardly, I’m pretty much the same, but without the edge and negative stuff. That doesn’t mean I succeed all the time. Some days are darker than others, but overall, I take this seriously. We all can use a little more light in our lives. I can’t explain why it was me, but I do accept it was another chance that was given to me, and I am inspired to live this beautiful game to the best of my ability. I rely of Jesus to help me through, because God knows I can’t do this on my own.

And, He will replace our heavy darkness with His Light! It is the carrying of that Light into the world that forms the basis of our final instruction from Christ in the book of Matthew. Chapter 28:19-20.

^“19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Simply put, we are be reflections of His Light, extensions of His Light, and as long a we are partnered with Him, as brothers and sisters, we are called and compelled to shine. If we believe, the yoke goes from being His to becoming ours, and His cargo of Light expands and fills us to overflowing, so that we can’t help but to take it into the fallen world.

So, let’s revisit our key scripture for today, hear these words once again.

²⁸ “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”