Grace is Very Light.

Matthew 11: 28-30 “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 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.”

We walk into church with smiles on our faces. When asked, “How are you?” we say, “Fine. Doing well. How are you?” We take our seats. Read the bulletin. Talk to our neighbor. We sing with the praise band and listen to the pastor. All the while our hearts are breaking and our burden is too much for us to bear.

Along the journey of our lives we have become rock collectors. As we walk along we pick up rocks that seem to be placed especially for us. We place these unhealthy rocks of remembrance into large packs that we carry on our backs. If we could see others the way that God sees us we would be able to see the large packs that each of us shoulders around. A pack filled with the rocks of our past mistakes and current sins. The rocks read, “Lost my temper and yelled at my kids. Worst mom in the world.” “ Was feeling lonely and unappreciated so I looked at online pornography. Worst husband in the world.” “I took money from my work. Worst employee ever. ” “ Lied habitually. Horrible sinner.” The pack grows heavier every day. The burden too much to carry. We think if anyone knew what I had done they would kick me out of the good Christian club. So we smile and volunteer in areas we are not gifted in hoping that maybe, just maybe, some of the rocks will disappear if we just work hard enough. If we just prove to God how serious we are, how sorry we are, then some of the rocks will disappear. We try over and over to stop sinning, stop rock collecting, but each day fills us with deeper despair. 

In Pilgrims Progress, when Pilgrim gets to the cross, the pack that he has been carrying filled with his sins and past mistakes, suddenly falls off his back and rolls away. We believe that the cross takes the sins we have committed up until the moment of our salvation and washes them away. But what we sometimes forget is that the blood of Jesus washes away all our sins. We don’t have to carry the pack. We don’t have to carry the rocks. The wonderful grace of Jesus means that we get to rest. We don’t have to continue to carry the guilt and shame. Nothing that we can do will ever take the place of the work Jesus did on the cross.  We can’t add to it with our works and can’t diminish it with our sins.

Jesus’ burden is light. His yolk does not include strangling us with shame, guilt, or sorrow. His yolk is light because he has taken off our packs, emptied the rocks, and filled it with grace. Grace is very light.