Letting Go of Control

Thursday of the 15th Week in Ordinary Time

Ex 3: 13-20; Mt 11: 28-30

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

“Come to me all who labor and are burdened…for my yoke is easy and my burden is light”.  We hear that so many times, but do we believe it?  It seems so hard, doesn’t it?

Maybe it’s because all of us humans are wired a certain way.  We all want to be in control- to be in control of our lives; to be in control of our destinies.  And we want control personally.   Turning over everything to the Lord just doesn’t feel right.  We would lose control, wouldn’t we?  And so, people work all life-long providing for themselves and their families- the job, the house, the car- because the stability of our lives is so very important to us and our independence during our earthly lives is a measure of success.  As long as we have stability, we feel that we can control our lives and our destinies here.

But, we are deceiving ourselves because we are never really in control, are we?  All it takes is an accident, an illness, a death, a job loss, or a natural disaster to wipe out our stability and our sense of being in control.  It has happened already to most of us, and it will happen eventually to all of us.  And it is then we will come to realize that only God is in control.

In the Exodus story, the Hebrew people were in dire straits.  They were slaves, bogged down and beaten, and without hope.  And then one day a man called Moses tells them that God has talked to him and told him that He the one and only Almighty God, and that if they just listen to Him and do as He says, they will be delivered from their slavery and inherit a land flowing in milk and honey!  Just imagine how people would react in today’s world if someone said that to us.  But we know that the Exodus liberation was real.  The people listened to Moses, albeit after many trials and tribulations, and pulled up stake in Egypt to follow Moses and Aaron into Canaan.  That took a lot of trust.

Jesus’ message today is the New Testament version of the offer by God to Moses and the Hebrew People.  And while it may seem just as outlandish, it is the answer to our prayers in times of tribulation, just as the Exodus was the answer to the Hebrew People’s prayer.  Why?  Because the rest that Jesus offers, the land flowing with milk and honey is the Kingdom of God.  Jesus is offering us the “easy” path to the kingdom and no matter what our earthly burden may be- illness, death, job loss, whatever- these things are a light burden if we are focused on our ultimate destiny to the Kingdom of God.

Now, I am not trying to diminish the reality of the pain and suffering associated with the things of this world.  Rather, I am just trying to put them in context.  The path to the Kingdom of God, our ultimate destiny, can be made so much easier if we just let go and accept God’s will for us because every time we try to control that path, there are consequences.  And those consequences are what can cause us the most pain and suffering in this world.  If you are honest with yourself, you realize how true that is.  Think of the way some people treat their own bodies; how they have relationships with the wrong people; and how the wrong job or activity gets them in real trouble  We all make a host of choices as we go through life that  carry consequences which can be very painful.

You know, often times we suppress nudges from our consciences when we made some of those decisions.  Those are like the call from God to Moses at the burning bush or like Jesus’ message to us this morning.  Perhaps God’s way really would be easier in this life as well.  So, let’s give it a try.

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