John the Baptist, a wooly and wild guy, advocated for a better religion located outside the temple with the dirty Jordan River as the baptismal font. But even his faith had a rigid edge – camel hair clothes, locusts for food and adherence to other Nazarite laws.
I can image his curiosity about his cousin, the rabbi he once baptized. The word got out that he ate with the wrong kind of people, drank too much and broke Sabbath. The word traveled all the way to John’s prison cell. ‘Is this the rabbi who’s going to turn it all around?’
When Jesus was asked point blank by John’s posse, He pointed to the light.
People were heavy with blindness and deafness. They itched with leprosy, limped with lameness and even crushed by death. But now they see, hear and walk. Look at them – they itch no more, they are alive! They are light, freed from those oppressive weights and able to move freely.
And he wanted his imprisoned cousin to not be offended by this generous levity, but to embrace it.
Be light!
Then Jesus lamented about the heaviness of cities like Chorazin and Bethsaida. Their hearts were so calcified that even after experiencing Jesus and His ways, they couldn’t change. So much like Pharaoh and his hardened heart, they remained unrepentant.
Jesus said that if Sodom, infamous for damning depravity, had encountered Jesus the entire city would have seen the light. They would have been free to this very day…yet even Capernaum prefers to remain heavy with sin, heavy under the status quo. It’s hard to understand why they wanted to keep all that heaviness.
Be light!
These things often don’t make sense. Only God understands why true religion is light and the counterfeit so heavy. And we, in our ignorance, prefer the weight of sin and even the cement shoes of religiosity. Even when the heaviness is killing us…
Still some of us stumble toward the light and go all-in with Jesus. We gamble on His levity – that He’ll make our bodies light with healing, our empty homes and lonely souls light with laughter around the table. When we deserve the heavy-handedness of the law, we allow ourselves to be surprised by the stone He refuses to throw.
Be light!
And then He speaks it out – He is not the heavy-handed God we imagine Him to be. He is light. His yoke, His teaching, His curriculum for faithfulness is easy. His burden is light.
I’m left to think of all the heaviness out there – the weight of shame, judgment and expectations we put on others. The heaviness we take on ourselves. But Jesus says His way is not like a heavy burden at all. When we feel a weight pressing down on our shoulders, it should be a signal we’ve taken on the wrong yoke. Somehow our teaching is skewed.
Because Jesus gives a yoke we can carry, it’s light. It’s chock through with the levity of forgiveness, acceptance and second chances.
Be light!
(I think even cousin John would agree – drop the offense and just be light!)
I love how you use the word “levity” so much in this post to describe Jesus! I so need his “light” and perfect yoke for me. Thanks so much for your words.
Dear Kelly
I see you have enjoyed today’s word for the link-up just as much as I did!
Yes, dear one, that is strange that people couldn’t SEE, but I think it was because their minds were veiled by the enemy! Not much has changed, for today many still choose the darkness of religion over the light of our Lord Jesus.
Much love xx
Mia
Such depth in this post, I had to read it again. I think so much of the weight we carry is our doing. He IS light, easy, weightless, beautiful and transparent. And I’m so thankful I can carry that yoke.
oh friend, such wisdom here… i love how you played on the word “light” and took it places i hadn’t imagined… and yes, i love how light the savior’s yoke… bless you.
your words challenge and probe.
and i like it.
thank you, Kelley.
I had just read the birth and beginning of John’s ministry the morning you sent this, Kelley. For the first time I was very overcome with the conception, birth, life and tragic death of John the Baptist. Your words here just added to it all. We can all prepare the way of the Lord in our lives.