Take My Yoke Upon You...

I decided a few days ago to re-read my favorite book, the Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. Although I have read it twice before, re-reading it after living here in the inner-city has definitely shone new light to his words and pushed and challenged me further and further to really seek to be the disciple of Jesus he has called us to be.

And, as I was reading the book, I got to a part of the book that reminded me of an earlier (a few days ago) post I had written called a heavy heart. So, I've decided to share with you Mr. Claiborne's words (because they speak so strongly to my heart):

"No one ever promised us that community or Christian discipleship would be easy. There's a commonly mistranslated verse where Jesus tells the disciples, "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 my yoke is good and my burden is light." People take that to mean that if we come to Jesus, everything will be easy. Ha, my life was pretty easy before I met Jesus. In one sense, the load is lighter because we carry the burdens of the world together. But he is still telling us to pick up the yoke. Yoke had a lot of different meanings. It was a tool used for harnessing animals for farming, it was the word used for taking on a rabbi's teaching (as Jesus seems to use it here). Yoke was also the word used for the brutal weight of slavery and oppression that the prophets call us to break. One of the things I think Jesus is doing is setting us free from the heavy yoke of an oppressive way of life. I know plenty of people, both rich and poor, who are suffocating from the weight of the American dream, who find themselves heavily burdened by the lifeless toil and consumption we put upon ourselves. This is the yoke we are being set free from. The new yoke is still not easy (it's a cross for heaven's sake), but we carry it together, and it is good and leads us to rest, especially for the weariest traveler. In fact, if our lives are easy, we must be doing something wrong. Mother Teresa used to say, following Jesus is simple, but not easy. Love until it hurts, and then love some more. This love is not sentimental, but heart wrenching, the most difficult and the most beautiful thing in the world."

And I love the last three sentences because it seems to sum up my life here in Chicago. This love I feel is not sentimental but heart wrenching. It is the most difficult and the most beautiful thing in the world. See, working with these kids has been the most difficult and heart wrenching thing i've ever done...yet it has shown me who Jesus really is and how beautiful God's love is. Living in this impoverished community has shown me what Jesus meant when he said, "whatever you do for the least of these...you do for me." Taking words from Arloa Sutter, founder and executive director of Breakthrough, "I may have felt happier in (Arkansas), but here, I am growing in my capacity to care, to suffer, and to feel."

I have changed and learned so much since moving to Chicago, and for that I can only be thankful. Although I felt much pain, I have also felt much joy. I praise Jesus for calling/sending me here and I praise Him that this journey has only just begun.


I pray that all people will begin "moving beyond charity and towards justice and solidarity with the poor and oppressed, as Jesus did." (more words from Claiborne)

God bless you all.