Walking on the beach last summer
A Word from the Rector
This week, our friends across the Atlantic are marking a big one; happy 250th birthday to the USA. And whilst the world has changed dramatically since 1776, some things will always stay the same. What do I mean by that? Well, we still pay taxes, we still need to eat, have a place to live, and a place to sleep. All of these things and more can cause anxiety. We spend our whole lives striving and seeking, and yet for most of us, there can be a sense that the dreams we had as young people were, after all, just dreams. It’s not easy coming to terms with our lot in life; we often want to keep up with those next door, those who seemingly have done better than us. It’s natural; it speaks to the heart of the competitive nature of being human. But Christ challenges us in this very nature.
This week, our reading is from Matthew 11. One of the most quoted verses, sometimes unhelpfully so.
“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.”
Matthew 11.28–30
When Jesus speaks of taking his yoke, he is offering us a swap: to lay down the heavy yoke of striving and keeping up, and to take up his instead — to learn from him rather than from the neighbours over the fence. We are, of course, going to have worries and concerns; it is part of our human nature to experience them, but as Jesus teaches, we are not alone in this life. Our Father in heaven is with us every step of the way from our first breath to our last. When we do carry a heavy load, God is there to help us carry it, even if in the moment we don’t realise it.
If you read the news, you might be mistaken for thinking that this is all well and good, but how can God allow the world to be this way? And my answer is that I don’t know why. I don’t know why evil still exists, or why life is sometimes easy and sometimes incredibly hard. What I do know is that God doesn’t let us go through it alone; how could he? This is the God who knows every hair on your head, who cares so much about having a relationship with us, who humbled himself, became man and paid the price for our sin on the cross. This is a God whose love is so deep and so rich we can’t understand it. And so most of the answers to the difficult questions in life remain a mystery. But God is with us; he is there in the midst of the pain and in the heart of our celebration. When your yoke feels too much to carry, trust that God is with you in that heavy burden.