From The Pulpit-archive

"Here Hold This"click here for music as you read

Matthew 23: 1-12
1 Thessalonians 2:9-13



Sometimes we take on "undo burden".  Not exactly like those kids playing Buck, Buck (click to hear Bill Cosby description of Fat Albert, the Buck Buck hero) but more like the fellow, Bob, in that famous camp song:

Hi, my name is Bob

I got a wife and 3 kids and I work in the button factory

one day my boss said, "Bob, are you busy", 

I said "no", 

he said "good, 

work this button with your right hand"!  

This, of course, is accompanied by a hand gesture progresses with more verses into working with his left hand, his right foot, his left foot, his head, his tongue, and whatever else the camp leader wants to add in order to make the campers go into contortions trying to do all the actions at once. Yep, sometimes we feel like we are going through contortions just to manage all the "burdens" that we have taken on.

Our laws can be another example of our tendancy to keep adding to our plate but never taking things away.  For instance, did you know that in is illegal to walk a duck down the street in some states.  And women may not wear red in public in Virginia (how many of us have broken that one?). Want more? click here.

But in reality, we like things simple.  When we play games, the ones with simple rules are our favorites.  Games that are complicated aren't fun right away.  But if you learn it a step at a time, it gets easier.  Practice it and it becomes even easier.  But you still may need to go back and look at the rules every now and then so you must keep them handy.

That is what the Pharisees were doing when they wore phylacteries, as seen here.  They were actually wearing bible verses and keeping the rules handy as well as the symbolic action of keeping God's word in the head and in their hand or actions.  But for the Pharisees, it became an act of show. It actually kept them separated and above the people (at least in their own minds).  It kept things complicated.

But Jesus came to simplify things. The disciples took on a new way.  A way of not being seen but of helping the community.  They "preached" step-by-step as they worked humbly for the people.  That is what we are called to do. Take things step-by-step.  Do things one at a time.  Do each small thing well and it can take away part of the worry, part of the burden of a big job.  And praying each step of the way helps, too.  A relationship with God helps us to realize that it is really His job that we are working on--He hold the burden.  That was Jesus' example to the disciples as well.  He most often came up with the plan and the disciples followed through.

So, travel step-by-step and let God carry the burden as you go!