Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
Jesus desires that we come to him with our burdens, "casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you" (see First Peter 5:7). He himself is the living water that can alone satisfy our deepest desires.
Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat! (see Isaiah 55:1).
Yet we continue to resist, spending our effort "for that which is not bread" and we continue to "labor for that which does not satisfy" (see Isaiah 55:2). Rather than the yoke of Jesus we seem to prefer "a yoke … that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear" (see Acts 15:10). Why do we insist on this unbearable yoke? Why do we persist in the effort of dead works that do not work when the blood of Christ will "purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God" (see Hebrews 9:14)?
We seem to prefer to attempt to rely on ourselves, even when it only leads to frustration and failure, rather than come to accept that we were made to live in relationship with Jesus and to do our work in partnership with him, sharing in his strength by sharing in his yoke. But sharing the yoke of Jesus means no more wandering in whichever direction we choose. Yoked to Jesus there is still only one direction that holds peace and rest for us, and that is his direction.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
Sharing a yoke means we ought not strain ahead in anxiety about the future nor dig in our heals in excessive preoccupation about the past. We ought to keep pace with Jesus. "If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit" (see Galatians 5:25).
Sharing a yoke with Jesus will eventually make us like him, teaching us to respond to life as we first experience he himself responding to it. We will come to learn the truth that we will only find peace in the traits that define Jesus himself, meekness and humility, as we also learn the contrary truths that pride and self-will only lead to frustration and pain.
In life we tend to prefer to get our own way. We are wont to indulge in self-pity when we do not. But there is only one way that leads to rest, and it is not our own, but that of Jesus himself. This is a paradox that our minds tend to push back against. Our egos scream that they must lead the way and set the path or else. But our egos, assuredly, are leading us off a cliff. Whereas surrender to Jesus, though it leads to a cross, leads through that cross to resurrection.
Permit us, then, to go a three-days' journey in the desert,
that we may offer sacrifice to the LORD, our God.
Our God is still leading us out of slavery and into freedom just as he led those of ancient Israel in the time of Moses. He knows that this freedom is to be most truly and deeply found in right praise, in lives lived as acts of worship. When we get this right, circumstances cannot hinder us from taking possession of the promised land.
so I have decided to lead you up out of the misery of Egypt
into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites,
Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites,
a land flowing with milk and honey.
No comments:
Post a Comment