Matthew 11. 25-30"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
These words of Jesus are so familiar that I almost don’t hear them. So I was a bit surprised when I heard something new this reading. Generally I have understood Jesus to mean that compared to the burden of our human condition, his burden is not heavy, it is “light”, not weighty. But this morning I wondered, what if Jesus was saying something else? What if he was telling the disciples, and me, that “light” was his burden?
ReplyDeleteAfter all, a property of light is to illumine darkness, and I know for me one of the most burdensome things is when light shines on my personal darkness; my shortcomings, failures, foibles, unsavory habits, undigested emotional garbage… I could go on and on. Oh how I wish I could keep these ugly facts of my human condition tucked away in locked trunks in an attic. But somehow light finds its way into even the dustiest dungeon. There is no rest for a weary soul that sees it’s task as masking cracks and keeping out the light.
Still, twice in two sentences Jesus offers rest, rest for our souls. This is what I want, relief from the burden of bearing and burying my darkness. I want to rest in the light of Jesus’ gentle and humble heart where my darkness is not judged and I am not expected to be without flaw or foible.
Yes Lord Jesus, here I come for I am weary, weary of failing to do the good that I desire and doing the ill that I detest, weary of my ambition and insecurity, weary of being subject to flattery and offense. Please let the light of your gentle and humble heart lighten the weight of my weary soul.