Reflection on Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

So, there was this guy who decided that his way to serve God was to literally get away from civilization and live off the land by eating grasshoppers and disturbing bee’s nests to find honey. He wore a loin cloth, kept far away from alcohol and the other traps of modern society, and then also invited other people away from civilization so that they too could let everything that trapped them in life be washed away in the wilderness waters of the Jordon river.

If this man, John the Baptist, walked into the grocery store today to grab an unexpected treat, like a “Snickers” bar, he most definitely would turn heads, but not in the “My that guy is handsome!” sort of way. He was un-kept, earthy, and skinny in that unhealthy looking sort of way. Quite frankly, people looked at him and said, “That guy is nuts.” But, that is the way he served God.

So, there was another guy who came along and decided to serve God in a completely different way. He did not shun society by becoming some sort of holy hermit.

Instead, he jumped head-first into the ways of modern life. He ate and drank with guys who hung out in bars. He sat and talked with those who had troubled pasts. He breathed the same air and drank out of the same cup of those who would betray and deny their own friend. He was in the middle of it all, just the opposite of John the Baptist, yet people looked down on him too and said, “There’s the town drunk. If you are looking to hang out with the lowest common denominator, go ahead and talk to Jesus.”

Strangely, I find comfort in all of this moaning and gossiping about John the Baptist and Jesus. For, if God can choose to use both an earthy smelling vegan and a social butterfly who does not have any friendship boundaries, maybe God can use someone like me too. What I mean is that, maybe I do not have to change myself to be someone I am not in order to for God to use me to love God and love my neighbor.

Maybe, God liked the fact that John was a social hermit in the wilderness so that people would have the chance to get away from the things that distract, yet still hear that God forgives their sinful ways.

Maybe, God liked the fact that God’s son did not discriminate between the desirables and the undesirables when choosing his friends. Maybe, in that way, all people might be able to feel loved, and all people might be saved through the forgiveness found in the cross of Christ.

Maybe, God knew what God was doing when God made you and I in the strange configurations that we are.

Maybe, God thinks it is OK that you are not like your neighbor.

Maybe God likes that you are a little bit weird. Admit it, you are.

Maybe, God only cares that you love your neighbor as a disciple of Christ, no matter who you do or do not hang out with.

There is a lady who does not act like a lady. Her skin is filled with tattoos, her words are anything but lady-like, and she hangs out with the crowd that fills formerly smoke laden comedy clubs. Smoking laws have cleaned up the air, but not the people.

But, no matter, God’s got it covered.

Using the language that those people understand, with holy body art that only that crowd can appreciate (her body is like a moving stained glass church window), this unconventional preacher lets them all know that they are loved by God and that there is salvation, and a place for them in the kingdom. Yes, even them.

Here is the thing. Since God uses all kinds of different, and completely opposite sort of people to work in the kingdom (even people we would never expect…people who are completely unconventional), maybe God too is unconventional.

Perhaps, God actually is not who we personally expect God to be. Maybe, God does not like and hate the same things and people that we do. Maybe, God is not formed in our image, but rather we are formed in God’s image. Maybe, God’s actual image does not look the same as we would paint God’s image.

Our painted images of God tend to comfort us and conform to everything we have already believed to be true. But, as theologian David Lose puts it, our images of God "don’t threaten us, don’t expect change from us, don’t ask us to do all that much, and don’t do much more than affirm us. And affirmation is great, even necessary at times. But it doesn’t save."

He is right. The real image of God who walked and breathed and taught was called a drunkard, was given the gift of a crown of thorns, and was put to death. But, he also died for every single one of those who sought to destroy him on the cross. When God came to earth, humanity did not like him. He did not conform to our image of him. We thought he was too radical, too loving, and too accepting.

Yet, he refused to throw that back at us and see us in the same way. He did not think we were too unlovable, or too far beyond redemption. When God came to earth, he just saw us as children who needed love, and he showed just how far he would love us. He loved us to the end on the cross.

So, when Jesus says, "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, 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,” he isn’t saying “Come and take a holy vacation, you need it badly.” It may be true that you need a vacation badly, but that is not what he is saying.

He is saying that it is harder to live up to the world’s expectations of you than to live up to God’s. It is hard to make yourself into the image of the perfect, universally accepted person. It is impossible to conform to the desires of the world. But, God does not desire you to do that in the first place.

What God desires you to do as a disciple is much simpler: love as Jesus loved.

Carry Jesus’ burden of loving others rather than carrying anything else. It is the light way to live. It allows you to go live in the wilderness if you like. It also allows you to be a social butterfly if you are already one. It allows everything in between because loving God and neighbor does not look like just one thing. It looks like many things. It looks like you being who you were created to be, but just in a loving way.

It is a simple way to live. It is an easy task to undertake. It does not require you to conform to the standards of this world in any way. And, it does not require you to start judging others and trying to get them to conform to the world either. It is a way of life that is gentle, and humble, and in it there is no burden.

Will it be acceptable to those around you? Probably not. Do not expect any less than the reaction that John the Baptist and Jesus got. But, even so, it is the light way of life. Loving is easier than contorting yourself to be as the world desires.

You are who God created you to be. So as a disciple of Jesus be that. Be who you were created to be, only in a loving way and you will certainly find the rest for your soul that Jesus has already poured upon you.