Trading Backpacks with Jesus

The Gospel reading for this Sunday is from Matt. 11, in which Jesus invites us to switch yoke and backpacks with him.

What a great invitation. What an audacious request. What a hard commandment to keep. On this pilgrimage of life I am well-acquainted with all of the brick-brack that I have accumulated and bring along with me in life. My back-pack is filled with everything that I thought was necessary to bring along, weighing me down day by day, slowing my walk on the pilgrim trail, until I begin to no longer find my stride with God, but start to almost crawl. Fearing that God cannot handle the items that I put in my sack, I weigh myself down unnecessarily.

Then along comes this verse: take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, and I shall give you rest. It is not "may give you rest," but "shall." So I stop, take off my backpack, and trade with Jesus and take his backpack. It is lighter, and I can move far more easily, finding my stride again in walking with the Companion of this journey.

Pilgrims: this is a verse we should read daily and not every three years.

Buen camino!

Pilgrim peace,

B