This weekend I was up at Shamineau again for the Scrap N' Stamp retreat. What? Yes, It's called Scrap N' Stamp. 180 women come up for the weekend (some stay till Monday!) and scrapbook their photos. I'm not going to spend any more time explaining it, because unless you've seen it or something similar, you'll never understand. :)
Anyway, at these retreats I give chair massages to the ladies for a small fee. This weekend I did more backrubs than I have ever done in one weekend! I was exhausted. This is virtually my only responsibility aside from leading devotions Sunday morning for those who want to come. Saturday night I finally went home at 3am, and just decided I would figure out what I was doing for devos when I woke up. I didn't have to give them until 11am, so I had plenty of time.
Come morning, I roll over and my eyes land on the clock: 10:57. No!!!!! I jump out of bed, try to look a little bit like a person, and call my mom to tell her I was on the way. I had five minutes on the road to decide what the heck I was going to talk about with these women! Then a quote from my dad came into my head, "all you have to be is 30 seconds ahead." Okay, thanks Dad, but now I only have 20 seconds! Ah!
I arrive at camp and walk into the room where there are 15 or so ladies waiting for me. I tell them to keep talking amongst themselves while I "get organized" aka, figure out what the heck I'm doing. If you know me at all, you know I always tend to cut it close when planning teaching things, but I have never in my life been standing in front of a group not knowing what I was about to talk on. It was a rush.
Then it hit me. "I'll talk about rest!" I thought. "That's wonderfully ironic, it's an easy soapbox for me, and these women are all mothers who never get a weekend for themselves. Perfect!" So I naturally swing over to Matthew 11:28, but there's not enough there. It's pretty straight forward, and I dont think I have enough to say about it. "Where's the hook? The unexpected element? The less obvious truth? Come on..." I know I'm running out of moments to stall. Then I find it. It ended up going somthing like this:
After admitting I had only awoke 15 minutes earlier, I told them I wanted to talk about rest. That got a good laugh.
Matt. 11:28-30 goes like this: "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 humble in heart and you will find rest for souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
What do you hear? Rest, comfort, open arms, gentleness, etc.
Is there anything here that is discouraging, frustrating, or unsettling? The first thing we see here is the invitation to rest, but we tend to ignore the command to take on a yoke. And not even my own yoke, but someone else's! at the risk of sounding selfish (aren't we all, anyway?), why am I carrying someone else's burden, no matter how light it is?? How is that rest, and why does Jesus have the permission to tell us to pick it up?
Now before you throw me out the window as a heretic, understand that I am not asking these questions with the implication of the answer. Rather, I am asking them because I want the answer I know to be true to be proven from the text, not just because it feels right.
Zoom out a bit. Matt. 11:25-27: "At that time Jesus declared, 'I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hiddn these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor..."
My Bible makes this all one paragraph. But what does the Father and Son knowing each other have to do with resting, and the yoke? It all comes down to authority. Jesus is establishing here the fact that everything we associate with God, omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, is also true of Jesus. The Father has given Jesus ALL authority!
Verse 27 could sound very elitist. I guess it is, in some ways. Him being God and all. But in our humanity when we hear someone being elitist we also hear that person saying things that cut them off from the rest of the little people.
Jesus would be totally justified here if he would have said, "no one know the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him, so you better shape up if you want to get let into the party."
Or, "...to whom the Son chooses to reveal him, so suck it up if I don't pick you."
Or, "I have have authority, so pick up the yoke, pansy!"
But he doesn't.
He says only the Son knows the Father...So Come. What a good God we have who has all power in the universe and beyond but he calls us to himself to come and rest. And he has all the rights to tell us what yoke to carry. And because he is good, he calls us to carry a better load than we have to start.
One of the ladies noted that a yoke goes over the back to two oxen, and they cannot pull in opposite directions. I believe there is nothing more tiring that trying to control something that is out of your hands. Like backseat driving, or pining over the poor choices of a loved one. Jesus knows how exhausting this is. If we simply let go of what we don't have control over anyway, recognize He has all the authority, we will begin to learn to rest.
That, I believe is where the comfort in Jesus' authority comes from. Not from the fact that he can wallop my enemies, which he can; not that he could wipe me off the face of the earth, which I deserve; but from the fact that Jesus is in utter control frees me up to not worry about it. I can let go, follow the Master, and pull the burden he has for me. Nothing is more freeing than that.
