so how do these two sweeping universal invitations from the Prince of human life fit together. how is it possible that taking up our crosses daily can jive with taking upon ourselves His easy yoke? how does "dying by execution" daily interface with carrying His "light burden" and "rest for our souls"? eugene peterson's translations in the message can help us. i'll just make some bullet points under each passage and let you ponder them and piece them together. (you can probably tell that i'm convinced that resolving this paradox in our thinking is really important for our spiritual lives!)
Luke 9:23-25..NKJV
Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?"
1. there is a competition here for what will be our dominant desire.
2. it's important to note that "desire unleashed" vs. "desire denied" is at the heart of true spirituality (unlike classic buddism).
3. Jesus is reasoning with us about how a life is actually saved and is interested in our prosperity.
4. the paradox begins to be resolved in understanding that subjugating our desire to preserve our "little life" to a superior desire to "follow" Jesus, is the immutable pathway to a "larger life"--a human life that is "fully alive" thereby bringing glory to God.
5. the daily death that Jesus is called us to is obviously not a literal death, but simply a daily/hourly practical/concrete commitment to say "no" to our own will in order to say "yes" to His--as best as we can discern it.
Mt 11:28-30..NKJV
"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
1. Jesus is making it very clear that His way of living out human life brings us to a place of "rest".
2. "My" yoke stands in contrast to all the other yokes that people have chosen to live under--sin's, satan's, other people's and ones of our own making.
3. in this word picture, Jesus is not the master and we the ox, but He is Himself an older and experienced Fellow-Ox (servant) who invites us into a double yoke. He is the one who is doing the "heavy lifting" in the living out of our life--for He literally indwells us and expresses His life and Spirit through us.
4. His yoke is a yoke and His burden is a burden (necessarily the case in a fallen world), but it is "easy" and "light" because He is in it with us and vice-versa.
Luke 9:23-25..MSG
Then he told them what they could expect for themselves: "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat, I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you?"
1. Jesus moves into our vehicle and demands the controls, but He doesn't kick us out of the car--reminiscent of the "double yoke" image. An even better analogy is a cockpit of a plane with a pilot and a co-pilot (who is being trained to fly by the expert).
2. "dying daily" is about welcoming Jesus to take the lead and embracing the legitimate sufferings of living and serving His purposes in a fallen world.
3. the carnal expressions of the self are unnecessary for life and are to be shed in order to make space for legitimate expressions of the essential self--the true and real self--which Jesus came to rescue and redeem. (the "self" has too often gotten a bad rap in the history of religion.)
4. peterson's translation of the luke 9 passage helps us make the philosophical link to the matthew 11 passage
Mt 11:28-30..MSG
Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me..watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.
1. the passage is put into the proper context of Jesus addressing religiously committed people and all of the striving of religious flesh to "please God".
2. our Fellow-Ox is a master at pulling the plow of service for His Master.
3. our "daily cross" must be understood as a "yoke" that fits us well and is possible and meaningful for us to carry.
4. we all instinctively know that satisfaction in life does not come from self-absorption, but from living a life of love that is God-centered and other-centered...simply because God has wired us in such a way that "it is more blessed (lit. "makes us happier") to give than to receive". And...when we long for and experience this happiness, we are invited to enjoy it without any false guilt or accusation of being "selfish".
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