America, the home of the free, the brave, and all the red tape! You know the infamous red tape that restricts us from doing exactly what we want, when we want to. And the worst part about it is, red tape is everywhere. No matter what you want to do, there will be some form of red tape to stop you, but perhaps you think you can maneuver around it, not so fast! As soon as you’ve cut a few pieces, another wall of red tape stands directly behind those.
All this red tape may feel like a new world problem, unfortunately it’s not. And actually compared to the red tape in the past, I feel pretty lucky for the red tape we experience today. During Jesus’ time, the red tape for Jewish individuals was particularly dense.
It is referred to in the Gospel passage when we hear the line, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens,” These heavy burdens not only refer to problems we deal with in everyday life, but also the Jewish law which was an awful burden of red tape.
While researching, I came across an example of this really dense red tape situation. It talked about a Jewish woman who was widowed and had inherited land, which she decided to use as a farm. She began to plow the land, BOOM the red tape. She had to stop plowing because Jewish law did not permit the use an ox and a donkey together to pull a plow. Alright then she began to seed the land, BOOM more red tape. She wasn't allowed to seed her land with mixed seed. She had enough, so she sold the land. With that money, she purchased some sheep in order to sell their fleece, and their young. When it came time to shear the sheep, more red tape. The first lamb was born, more red tape. The woman decided to give up, and slaughtered the sheep for herself to eat not to sell, and even then more red tape. The Jewish law took everything, so she was left with nothing.
So what was the point of all those Jewish rules and regulations? Like our red tape today, it was to ensure that people didn't stray too far from righteous the path. And in Jewish culture, these laws were intended to make all individuals stay devoted to God. It was believed if they were following all the right rules, all the time, they couldn’t make God angry. Essentially the thought was if we don’t make God angry, then we will stay in good favor with God, and we will live a good and prosperous life.
But the red tape that was supposed to keep Jewish individuals devoted to God, began to become the focus of their lives rather than God.
Ultimately, I can relate to this red tape situation, not only running into it all the time, but having my focus become the red tape. I think we have all been in a place where we try following all the right rules, we expect good results, and yet still not succeeding. Which eventually leads us to just having to shut down. Especially if we try to go about this world on our own. No wonder the woman just gave up. She must have felt overwhelmed trying to handle all the red tape by herself.
But what other choice did she have, I mean she was only a widow. What was she supposed to do against all the red tape of the law? Perhaps, just take a pair of scissors, and cut through it all. Okay she can’t just use any pair of scissors, she needed to use a pair of Jesus scissors. But where to find them?
Well let's look at that line of scripture again, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, I will give you rest.” The line “I will give you rest.” This is where I interpret essentially Jesus taking a pair of scissors and cut through all that red tape. Basically stating to the Jewish individuals, by starting to follow Christ, you can stop focusing on all the rules, and begin to focus on God.
Jesus was saying because we have a gracious God, and we don't have to worry about getting all the rules right because if we did, our focus would no longer be on God. And when we begin to focus our lives around what God is calling us to do, our burdens begin to lighten. When he says, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me . . . for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” He is referring to when two oxen are yoked, or tied together in order to pull a cart. It is easier for two rather than one. They don’t only become lighter because Jesus cut away the red tape rules, but because Christ shares in our burdens.
When we act tied to Christ's teachings, our focus is not on following all the rules, but simply to follow Christ's teachings to direct us down the right path. I must admit though, there are a few pieces of red tape Jesus did not cut. But unlike the red tape that we deal with on a regular basis, this red tape really focuses our attention on where and who we should be serving.
One piece is to love God and the second piece is to love our neighbors as ourselves, and unlike the other red tape, these pieces should never be cut.
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