Choosing Kindness over Ease
A drastic change in a well-known passage - for me, at least.
I’ve been looking forward to sharing about the fruit of kindness since I began this study weeks ago. I was actually rather blown away by what I discovered.
Before I get to that, just another word about the relationship between these fruits. We’ve continually noted how deeply connected different fruits are to one another. Love hovers above all of them (or really, sits beneath as a foundation). Joy is invariably attached to patience and hope. And so on. There is something like a fraternal twin relationship between goodness and kindness. Again, both are rooted in love. But goodness is that inner state from which love flows. Kindness is the outward expression of it. Do you see it?
So when doing the word study on kindness, a surprising passage arose. So many of us know and love Matthew 11:28-30 and it turns out that what Jesus calls easy is what Paul calls kindness. The first is simply the adjective form. The second is the noun.
(!)
My yoke is kind to bear.
You can tell why English translations do not use “kind” when you read that. At the same time, it really brings to light what Jesus is saying.
Indeed, I’ve often wondered what Jesus is saying - is this what he meant to say? That discipleship is easy? We all know his yoke isn’t easy. The cross is a tough and terrible place to land. And though he bore the cross for all people, he also calls us to it.
So how is that “easy”?
Understanding that Jesus offers kindness rather than ease changes everything. Jesus’ yoke, his burden, is not about making things easier in life, but making it better through kindness, the outward expression of an inner goodness.
In this way, it does certainly offer people a relief from the burden and heavy load of the world, a world that is hell-bent on competition, beating each other up, rivalry, and vengeance. Remember how Paul began his discussion on fruit of the Spirit -
…don’t let this freedom be an opportunity to indulge your selfish impulses, but serve each other through love.
And then,
…if you bite and devour each other, be careful that you don’t get eaten up by each other!
And then he soon lists kindness as a fruit of the work of the Spirit within us. That is a freedom - if we let it - a freedom from the heavy load of a rat race of a world, and into a different way of living together.
Matthew 11:28–30
Come to me, all you who are struggling hard and carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Put on my yoke, and learn from me. I’m gentle and humble. And you will find rest for yourselves. My yoke is easy to bear, and my burden is light.
Prayer
God,
I’m lazy. Well, I have a propensity for laziness. I get a lot done, but I also don’t. At least, it feels that way sometimes. And honestly, I think I use Jesus as an excuse sometimes. I can easily twist things of sabbath and his words about an easy yoke into an excuse to just sit there. Not that I don’t believe in sabbath and the freedom you offer me in Christ. I really do. But I know I can misuse them.
So help me, God.
I want to be kind in the deepest of ways. I want Christ’s goodness to be in my heart in such ways that those who experience Jeremy encounter kindness. Change my heart, oh God.
Holy Father of all creation, I see your loving justice in Jesus of Nazareth. By your Spirit, make me more like him.
Amen.
A new song I arranged dropped overnight. I offer it to you in the light of kindness. Yes, I know they weren’t kings and who knows if there were three or not (there were three gifts). But the story of the magi is one of kindness indeed. We’ll get to more of this in the next two days, but kindness in the midst of extreme difficulty seems to encompass a Christ-like kindness in particularly strong ways. This is the story of the magi. They were kind in multiple ways.