Proclaimer Blog
Feeling the provocation
Some of the most profound things God says to us in his written word are expressed in simple words and short sentences. That is especially true of the end of Matthew 11, which I’ve recently come to in my daily reading. They are well known words, of course. What I particularly noticed this time around was the way in which things which at first sight aren’t easy to reconcile are just set out side by side for us.
First off, Jesus praises his Father for being pleased to reveal ‘these things’ to ‘little children’ (vs.25-26). Then in the very next verse he speaks of himself as the one who chooses to do the revealing, so that we can know the Father (v.27). Such wonderful, loving co-operation of Father and Son, so that the Father may be revealed to us. It’s when I notice the seeming contradiction (exactly who is choosing to do the revealing here?) that I am drawn into wonder of what is being said to us here, and to praise the Father the way Jesus does.
Then comes the well-known apparent illogicality of vs.28-29: what the weary and burdened most desperately need is a yoke to be put round their necks by Jesus. What the burdened need sounds quite like another burden! Moreover, Jesus wants to put his yoke on us because he is ‘gentle and humble in heart’. We would hardly expect the truly gentle and humble to go round encouraging others to saddle themselves with a yoke.
Simple observations, I know. But these things provoked me (I think that’s the right word) as I dwelt on them this morning. That is surely part of God’s intention in speaking to us in such provocative ways. I naturally assume that in my weariness and burdenedness (is that a word?) what I need is more ‘me-time’ and chillaxing. In simple and jarring words, Christ provokes me to see that that isn’t so, at least not at the root of things. May the Lord preserve us, both in our own feeding on his word and in our feeding of others, from being so dull that we fail to be provoked by the sheer direct simplicity with which he often speaks.