²⁸ Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

Dear God, I have a little confession here. I don’t think I’ve every really understood this passage. I can kind of get my head around laying down…hold it. Wait. I just realized something as I looked at these verses again. I’ve always read it that I’m supposed to lay down my burden and not carry it anymore, but carry your burden instead. But that’s not what this says! I just double checked a couple other translations as well. What it says is that I bring this burden to you, hook myself up to your yoke, and then, at least how I am reading this passage this morning, the act of bearing your yoke will help me to carry my burdens. My burdens are still there. My sorrows are still there. But now I am attached to your yoke. I’m typing on the computer, but if I were using emojis on my phone I would put the “mind blown” emoji right now. I’m a little stunned.

Oh, Father, how wrong am I every day? About my theology? About my opinions? Oh, how I was so smart and understood it all when I was younger. But the older I get the more humbled I am. I told someone yesterday that I’m convinced that the more dogmatic someone is about a certain opinion means they are actually afraid they are wrong about it. They don’t want you to challenge it because they aren’t convinced they can defend it. That might not be 100% true, but it feels generally true. As for me, I am getting more and more comfortable with the idea that I am wrong about a lot of things.

So back to this passage, if I’m reading this correctly (now), this is what reconciliation with you is all about. It’s not about me walking away from my burdens. It’s about sharing them with you. It’s about remembering to seek you in solving or resolving them. It’s about turning over the outcomes to you, trusting that you have a plan that is bigger than I can see. It’s about remembering that you are my everything.

Father, help me to hook up to your yoke today. Help me to walk in your joy. Help me to carry that yoke to others and invite them to join me in my journey. I’m grateful for this opportunity. I’m grateful to understand maybe a little better why this passage never made sense to me and now it does. It’s interesting that chapter 12 starts with the disciples and Jesus breaking some Sabbath rules, and it actually links the stories with these words from Jesus by starting chapter 12 with “at that time.” Oh, Lord, be with me today in every moment.

I offer this to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen