“Walk with me and work with me– watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace…” matthew 11:29
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“Walk with me and work with me– watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace…” matthew 11:29
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January 12, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Alan
I’m not sure how I stumbled upon your blog, so I apologize if I don’t belong here.
While I appreciate the gentle spirit with which The Message paraphrase puts this verse, I recently did a study on Matthew 11 and can honestly say that this totally misses the point. I hope this doesn’t come off too preachy (especially coming from a stranger who just happened to find your blog!), but here’s what you miss from a better translation (in this case ESV, but many would do):
“Come to me, all 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.”
Thoughts:
1 – We must come to Him. Who? Those who are laboring under the law, but especially those who are heavy laden under the law… i.e., are aware of their sin as a burden, their guilt under the law.
2 – He gives us rest. See Hebrews 4 for more on rest; the amorphous “unforced rhythms of grace” sounds like great coffee-house poetry, but doesn’t really mean a whole lot.
3 – It’s not just a matter of “watching how He does it,” it’s a matter of “taking [His] yoke upon us.” That is, coming to Him as our Ruler, submitting ourselves to His lordship. He still has a yoke for us – that is, we belong to Him – but it is much better than the old yoke of the law.
4 – The yoke that we are to be under, as servants of Christ, is chreustos – not only easy, but gracious… even sweet or pleasant… refreshing.
I could go on, but I’ve already taken enough of your time. I just want to encourage you to use other translations alongside paraphrases like The Message so that you don’t miss what God’s actually said.