What kind of baggage do you have? Is your baggage heavy and difficult to manage like those carry-on bags people shove into the airplane’s overhead bins? You know the scene. A passenger drags this unwieldy bag down the aisle of the plane, bumping the elbows of seated passengers. Once at the correct seat, the bag gets wrestled upward, awkwardly, nearly decapitating the passenger in the seat below, and then, with much grunting and pushing the bag is finally shoved into the bin and the door to the bin is smashed repeatedly until it finally clicks shut. Voila! It should be an Olympic event!
I sometimes wonder what is in that overstuffed bag. What is so important that the person can't check it through but chooses to drag it along and heft it into the bin so it can remain close by.
Do you ever do that with your personal “baggage?” We keep it close, always nearby. Barely glancing in the bag, but very aware of what it holds. We know it is hard to look at, heavy to carry and with us always. It is our bag of issues.
Recently , the Lord showed me that I had some stuff in my “carry-on bag” that was weighing me down. It is interesting when God directs us to examine just what it is that we are carrying around. My heavy load was packed way down in the bag, had been there for years, and was way past its Sell by date! It was thoroughly rotten.It was anger.
You might say it was a simmering coal of anger, but what a heavy weight to my soul.
Have you some old weight that has been burning and slowly weighing you down? Perhaps you understand then.
My anger is years, even decades old. It was directed at people I haven't seen for ages. People I probably couldn’t pick out of a Police LineUp.
I was angered by something they said or did, but they didn’t know about it. They had no clue anymore, I was angry and since they were not mind readers, they knew nothing about it. Heck, I had no clue by this time, either, just the simmering anger. So I was just angry and carrying that anger along, having imagined conversations with these people. Conversations in which I always was logical, calm and made perfect sense so they had to admit their wrongdoing! A rich fantasy life!
But carrying anger is dangerous and it is destructive. Carrying that anger leads to it becoming resentment, it is like a slow poison.
I tried to fix it and get rid of it, claiming to myself that I forgave them, praying for them and that really was helpful, but still that burning coal of anger smoked and was a fatiguing burden.. I really wanted to be free of the burden of the anger and resentment, much as we all do. It is a very heavy and awkward load to carry.
But how can I , how can you, finally set down your overstuffed bag? All of us carry memories, good and bad. All of us carry experiences, relationships, words that have affected us. Often, our baggage is full.
Did you know that God offers a burden buy back program? It is in the Book of Matthew 11:25-30.
We read this:
5 [a]At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and have revealed them to infants. 26 Yes, Father, for this way was well pleasing in Your sight. 27 All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son determines to reveal Him.
28 “Come to Me, all [b]who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find [c]rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light.”
What is offered here? An exchange- or more like an abandoning of our baggage. We come as those to whom God has revealed His wisdom, and we are as infants, babies, helpless.
We come to Jesus, the Son, Who reveals to us the wisdom of The Father.
But notice our situation as we respond to Jesus’ invitation to come.
We are Weary- which is to say, tired, worn out, exhausted, fatigued by work. Are you tired of toting that anger or resentment or jealousy or unforgiveness or whatever it is that you are carrying? Have you had enough of the struggle?
I know I am tired of it. What has it benefited me to remain angry? Why would I want that anger any more? Am I any more at peace? Do those forgotten incidents mean anything any more? Am I a stronger person for remaining angry? Am I wiser, holier? Not at all!
Notice, too, that we are characterized as heavy laden. That is describing overloaded pack animal, weighed down with too large and heavy a load.A load we cannot possible manage alone. ( Describe Nica horses pulling carts)
What a picture! Here Jesus invites us to come to Him and we show up overworked, overloaded and exhausted people, barely able to put one foot in front of the other!
And the offer of Jesus to us is: these three things:
Rest, an easy yoke, a light burden.
A yoke is that crossbeam that joins 2 oxen together so that they walk the fields in unison and plow in an orderly manner. . We are offered the yoke of Jesus-to be joined to Him, in His field. And He is a gentle and humble master. He is not overloading us. He is not overworking us. Why? Because Jesus makes his yoke an easy yoke. It is not difficult and heavy. It is easy, kind and gracious. It is a yoke to draw us close to Him, to walk His field in His way.
Furthermore, the idea expressed here by the word burden is of a useful, grace filled work or service. A service that is meaningful and purposeful. It is not carrying the burden of old pain, ancient anger or forgotten slights. It is not the continual striving to prove ourselves, to justify ourselves, to defend ourselves.
This Burden from Jesus is a burden but it is not a heavy burden: it is light. In this verse we hear Jesus offer us the opportunity to serve with Him and to serve Him. The language is poetic and repeats the idea of work and service for a gentle master. A master who is kind and caring.
The end goal being yoked with Jesus is to find rest and learn from Him. The easy yoke and light burden results in us knowing Him better. It results in our being able to see his grace and his humility and to experience the joy of being with Him. We can finally drop our load and take up His yoke because He has already taken our heavy baggage on Himself. In that gracious action, when He laid down His life for mine, for yours, we find there the rest for our souls. We don’t have to carry our personal baggage of anger or bitterness,or whatever you are carrying, because we are able to give it to Him to dispose of.
Jesus offers us His presence and He gives us purpose. The Father gives us His wisdom and The Spirit calls us to put down our heavy bags and step up to the easy yoke of Jesus. And in this new yoke, this easy yoke, that is where we finally find rest, rest for our souls.