July 26

Matthew 11

1 When Jesus had finished instructing his 12 disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their towns.

2 Now when John heard in prison about the deeds Christ had done, he sent his disciples to ask a question: 3 “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” 4 Jesus answered them, “Go tell John what you hear and see: 5 The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news proclaimed to them 6 – and blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me!”

7 While they were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 What did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Look, those who wear soft clothing are in the palaces of kings! 9 What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet! 10 This is the one about whom it is written:

“‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’

11 “I tell you the truth, among those born of women, no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is! 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and forceful people lay hold of it. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John appeared. 14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, who is to come. 15 The one who has ears had better listen!

16 “To what should I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to one another,

17 “‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance;
we wailed in mourning, yet you did not weep.’

18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him, a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

20 Then Jesus began to criticize openly the cities in which he had done many of his miracles because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you! 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be thrown down to Hades! For if the miracles done among you had been done in Sodom, it would have continued to this day. 24 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you!”

25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and have revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son decides to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke on you and learn from me because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry.”

One of the principles or ideas that has really stuck with me over my years of following Christ is that walking in faith is simple, but it’s not always easy. Many, if not most, of our struggles with sin are not because we’ve been tricked or confused by how complicated a moral question is. They’re because we have the problem Eve had when confronted by the snake. We overcomplicate the issue and ask whether God really has our best interests in mind (He does) or whether we might not know better than He does (we don’t). “Don’t murder.” “Don’t commit adultery.” “Don’t covet your neighbour’s things.” “Don’t bear false witness.” “Don’t put other things in God’s place.” These aren’t complicated instructions – I’m pretty sure my most recent flatpack furniture assembly project needed more sophisticated thinking than what it takes to understand these commandments (they’re all from the Top Ten God gave Moses) – but aren’t they easy to fall down on, especially those more abstracted ones that get at heart and attention issues like coveting or idolatry? Jesus notes in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) that if we’re pushing the logic of the commandments, the more concrete ones like adultery and murder also have their roots in our fickle and depraved hearts, lust or anger, rather than in the actions themselves.

So this passage from Matthew 11 comes as something like a reminder of that to me. I love how encouraging the passage is by the time it lands; Jesus assures us that His gift to us is rest, an easy load, a light yoke, not like the horrible shackles, the unbearable weight of guilt, or the relentless drive for more and worse (I’m thinking of how a little lust grows and twists into deep perversion, or how dabbling in drugs leads to people chasing a high right into oblivion, or how one little white lie can lead to darker and thicker webs of deception) that our sin gives to us. Oh, Lord! Help me to embrace the easy yoke you want me to carry rather than the impossible one I put on myself.

But you notice the sequence of what Jesus goes through to get to that assertion that his burden for us is easy. It starts with John the Baptist, his own cousin, the one who knew what he was prophesying about, doubting. “I’m in prison, Jesus. Are you sure this is what your burden is? Are you really who I thought you were?” It’s agonizing. And it gets worse for him; John ends up being beheaded by Herod, spurred by his vindictive wife (Matthew 14). But think back a couple months to our look through Hebrews 11. John decidedly fits among that “Hall of Faith” group as one that the world was neither ready for nor worthy of. Jesus’s message to him wasn’t just, “Yah, I am. Look at all the miracles!” It was more like, “Don’t lose sight of reality, John. Your life on this earth, where sin and death reign, where your job is to call people to repentance and to point them to me, is not the whole story. We’re working for the Kingdom where life and righteousness reign eternally. These miracles are merely a sneak preview! Keep the faith!”

And Jesus then notes how difficult it is for any of us to give up our sin because we don’t like how righteousness tastes. We see an ascetic like John, scraping an existence in the desert, clothing himself in humility, looking every bit the ‘holy man,’ and we consider him demon-possessed. We see Jesus following after, turning water into wine, eating and drinking with the sinners, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, showing the lowly the love of God, and we consider him a drunk and a glutton. How are the prophets of God supposed to reach people when they demand that God’s message conform to their idea of what it should look like?

It leads to many questions for me. Am I guilty of this? Only picking out the pieces of the gospel that I find appetizing? Do I only follow God inasmuch as it’s convenient for me? Just how much do I love my sin, my judgmentalness, my way, the yoke I’ve fashioned for myself? Will I turn my life over, I mean really give over my decision-making processes, my attention, how I spend my time and my money and my efforts to the One who wants to give me the easy yoke, who wants to give me rest? Or do I want to keep striving?

I think if we’re honest, our spiritual audit won’t be very kind to us, no matter how holy we look to others, no matter how long we’ve been following Christ. Jesus’s yoke is easy and His burden is light, but it’s not always easy to allow Him to be our god. We love trying to do that job ourselves, to our great detriment.

I hope as you read this, you’re not physically imprisoned like John the Baptist was when Jesus was giving this teaching, but I pray for you that you take comfort in Christ’s desire for you to rest. I pray that the spiritual prisons or bondage that you’re working through right now (and don’t lie to yourself, we’re all working through something and we all will be until the day we shake off this mortal coil and go to be in His presence) would become apparent and that you’d allow Jesus to take the burden of sin you’ve put on yourself from you and to replace it with His easy burden of allowing Him to be the Lord of your life, the object of your worship, the focus of your heart and mind.

Pax Christi

Next week's text is Galatians 5.