Friday, December 13
Title: REST IN CHRIST
Scripture: Matthew 11:28-30, John 14:27
Come to Me, all who are weary and 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 your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

Poetry:
Untitled 
by James Baldwin

 Lord,
      when you send the rain
              think about it, please,
              a little?
      Do
              not get carried away
              by the sound of falling water,
              the marvelous light
                        on the falling water.
          I
              am beneath that water.
              It falls with great force
              and the light
Blinds
              me to the light.

REST IN CHRIST

Click on Dustin Kensrue’s song, “Come All you Weary,”

As it plays, rest your eyes on Honoré Daumier’s painting The Third-Class Carriage, one of a number of paintings he did chronicling the industrialization of Paris in the mid-late 19^th century.

How are the burdens of life, the wear and tear of it, manifest in the figures’ clothing, postures, expressions, articles, and the image and placements of others in the carriage?  How would you describe the faces of the two women? What do they ‘say’: hardship, resignation, emptiness, futility, patience, quiet fortitude, burden?  What troubles do you think they have had to bear?  What might they be bearing now?

Let the song and your gaze on the painting play out.

*                 *                       *

In our passage in Matthew (echoed in John), Jesus talks of burdens, yokes, weariness, troubles, but also lightness, peace and rest. 

If we were honest, a sense of heaviness is a part of our daily lives.  One of these ‘yokes’ is the burden of our aspirations. You see, because humans have an awareness of time, of ourselves and of better lives, we live in a gap.  It is the gap between how things are and what could be, of whom we might become and who, in our disappointment, we perceive that we are.

We could be wealthier, more attractive, more fit, more well-known, more talented, more accomplished, more intelligent, more articulate, more fun, and more entertaining.  Every day we see images of what other people (reputedly) have, enjoy, and are experiencing. Over time—even if we are above the poverty line—in our minds, we ride in the third-class carriage and feel we must struggle through the crowd, across the carriage gaps, so that we might somehow, some way, find a seat among those in first-class. Of course, commercialism is there to make sure we never feel like we’ve made it, so that we might ever spend our money and longings on so-called “goods” in pursuit of crossing the gap.  We might call this the cultural gap—in so far as many of these aspirations are those that arise from cultural standards.

If that’s not enough, Christians have a second gap, what we might call the growth gap.  We not only live in the gap of who we are and what ‘the world’ tells us we should be (the cultural gap), but we also live in the gap of who, according to Scripture, we should become.  These goods are there on nearly every page of the Bible, and we would say these are good goods. The “goods” commanded by culture are by no means binding. The Scriptures nowhere say, “thou shalt be more humorous (or entertaining or fit or accomplished).” However, we do need to be more generous, more forgiving, more patient, more zealous, more prayerful, more thankful, more kind, more courageous, more faithful, and more vigilant for justice. God’s commands are non-negotiable.  What we regularly realize, however, is that we fail.  And with this knowledge comes the felt burden of being a third-class Christian.

In Jesus’ day, the yoke was a scriptural symbol of the law well-known to the Jews.  However, these good goods, “the law,” the markers of our growth or transformation, were often placed upon the people as heavy yokes and the means by which those who sat in the pious first class [the Pharisees] kept those in third class in their place. This made Jesus angry, and Matthew quotes him as saying so later in the gospel:

Jesus says, “They [the Pharisees] tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.” (Mt. 23:4).   It is not the law that Jesus objects to. The law and its commands are a vision of the good life (can you imagine a community in which there is no lying, greed, injustice?), and Jesus plainly states that he has not come to change them.

But he has come to change how we live under them.  For it is true, while the law is good, we will always discover one way or another in which we fall short, and we will therefore be guilty of that, objectively speaking.  But Christ knew that the law by itself, and the burden of guilt could not make us more law-abiding.  Rather, the law now has become “a tutor” to lead us to Christ (Gal. 3:24).  What do we need to learn?  What do we need to “learn” from Jesus? 

·     That there is always forgiveness through Christ’s atonement (we call it ‘the gospel’), and because that we have peace with God. 

·     That rest will never be found in fighting our way to first-class, but in the love of God, from which we move toward obedience.

·      That an awareness of ‘the gap’ (how we “mind the gap” as the London trains admonish) need not lead us to fear or shame but rather to humility and a renewed openness to the Christ’s yoke, which is Christ himself.

·     In other words, we are loved into loving, in which all the commands are contained.

The advent of Jesus is the coming of a new way to live, guided yoke that keeps us traveling the way of life. 

Prayer:
Lord Jesus,
What gaps or burdens do I labor under today?  Of what am I weary? Which are my yokes to receive—those given to me by you for good—and which do I need to lay aside because you know nothing about them?  May your gentleness and patience keep me continually in the way, though I may feel I am very poor in walking it out.  Help me to take my guilt in the gaps back to the cross and let your kindness lead me to repentance.  Teach me to learn You, the new way in the new covenant for a renewed life.
Amen.

Todd Pickett
Dean of Spiritual Development
Biola University

For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.