"It's OKay Discipleship Can Be Confusing" - Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30

When most of us pick our major in college or career path, I would venture to guess that we do not choose something that utterly confuses. Perhaps we may pursue something that we find intriguing, but not something that we don’t understand. And yet, that seems to be what the disciples have done. Jesus called them and without any knowledge of what they would be doing or if they would understand what they were going to do, they went. Along the way they saw and experienced things that could not have been predicted – including the death of John the Baptist, something that shook their Rabbi, Jesus, to his very core. And they had witnessed Jesus perform miracles and teach powerful lessons about God, the kingdom, and the nature of humanity, only to then see his message be rejected. This is not what they expected.

They had seen other Rabbi’s, prophets, and sages throughout their lives – they had received predicted responses. Their teachings elicited what was expected – like music leading to dancing and waling leading to communal mourning, these other prophets spokes messages that lead people to be disciples. But this Jesus – he had a different more radical message about him being the very Son of God – a message that seemed to only elicit hate and rejection. All of this confused the disciples.

And what does Jesus do – he praises God for all of this confusion! He thanks God for hiding wisdom and truth from those whom the world reveres as intelligent and revealed the glory of God to those whom are considered the most unwise – infants. This reversal of wisdom and truth and reflection on who can claim ownership over it, is by God’s grace. Jesus goes on to praise God that he and God are the only ones who know each other truly and intimately. For in the chaos and confusion wrapped in his rejection on this earth, Jesus knew that there was one Heavenly Parent who knew him better then he could ever know himself. This was his hope to cling to in the times that the disciples were confused – knowing that God could be revealed to them in this intimate way as well – for Jesus could choose to reveal God to anyone.

But it is what Jesus says next that really strikes me. His disciples aren’t completely getting what he has been teaching or doing. They still don’t understand the connection that he has to God even though he is showing them time and time again. They are utterly confused. But Jesus says, come to me all of you who are weary from the world or carrying something that is not bearable. Come to me and I will give you rest. You may think that my yoke is heavy, but it is easy and my burden is light.

A few weeks ago we kicked off our discussion about discipleship by watching a video by Rob Bell called Dust. One of the things that Bell pointed out was that a yoke in terms of a Rabbi is not what we immediately think of. It is his teaching. Jesus is essentially saying this: come to me all of you who are weighed down by your own intellect and worldly wisdom and I will give you rest. Come all of you who are weary from things that you do not understand and seeking for that which you cannot find. I will give you rest. Take my teachings upon you, and learn from me. I am gentle and humble and in my presence you will find rest for your souls. My teachings are easy and the burden they place upon you is light. Come.

Jesus is essentially beckoning those listening to him to come and surrender all that is blocking them from truly knowing God’s grace. He wants them to respond to his invitation to discipleship fully by taking his teachings upon them and letting them dictate their lives.

So if Jesus teachings, his yoke, was so easy and being in his presence made burdens light, why were the disciples still so confused? Because they had not yet surrendered all. They were trying to reconcile Jesus’ teachings with the wisdom of the world and it just wasn’t working. The more they trued to make these two opposite entities fit together, the more confused they became. Instead of surrendering themselves to the countercultural and radical message of Jesus they just tried to keep moving forward as is, with the small addition of what Jesus was teaching them. And it was not working.

Before we jump to chastising the disciples, I think we need to take a look at our own walks with Christ – our own discipleship journeys. How many of us are also caught up in the wisdom of the world – seeking only to further our knowledge in what we already understand? How many of us try to make our faith in Christ fit with everything else we know and do, instead of letting Christ’s yoke overcome us and completely change our way of being and living?

Perhaps we can sympathize with the disciples’ confusion and tension, because it is similar to what we are experiencing in our own lives. It is hard to think of concrete ways to live out our faith when we are so caught up in trying to reconcile it with the way we live our lives currently. We want Jesus to be a convenient addition, not a radical reoncfigurement.

What if we responded to all of the ambiguities and unknowns of Jesus’ message with a radical Yes, instead of trying to think through all of the what ifs? What if we found our identity in what Jesus was teaching instead of who the world says that we are?

We’ve spent our lives seeking wisdom and intellect and pursuing success by the world’s standards – all of which Jesus seems to dismiss in today’s scripture passage. The road to unlearning who the world says that we are can be confusing and painful if we try to make it fit with who Jesus says we are. We are forced to choose brothers and sisters – will we be marked as disciples of the world or Christ? For rest and a light yoke are not offered to those who only partially follow Christ, but continue to rely on the strength of the world which they have built. Jesus is not offering us freedom for working in the world, but freedom from labor without meaning. He does not promise that the walk of discipleship will always be easy, but he does promise to be present with us. What will you choose today? Amen.