Pack Mule Patty

Matthew 11:29-30, Taught by Pastor Tom Lacey at Church on the Hill, January 14, 2023

Now there’s no doubt that each of us has some carrying to do, but God isn’t interested in turning us into pack mules. Many of us are loaded down. When we’re too burdened, we can’t get up to see the good things that the Lord is trying to give us. Don’t let yourself get weighed down. Scripture says, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” We’re supposed to be able to walk and then run and even fly. If you’re carrying more than your share then you’re left just crawling.

Living with heavy loads is something that many people think of as being almost inevitable. The burdens sneak up on us. We don’t know how we get into this stuff so deep. We put stress on top of worry on top of a failure on top of another fear on top of one doubt on top of another pain. And we don’t separate them. We lose count and forget where one ends, and another begins. We toss them around like a salad, and they all start to get confused in our head and heart. Faith can’t cut through all that. Hope gets lost early on. Love struggles to speak to us. Peace passes out of us. Let things go. We aren’t supposed to carry as much as we do. The truth is probably much of what we hold isn’t ours anyway.

Numbers 11 is the story of the Israelites complaining in the desert. They had already complained enough so that the Lord had given them manna. But at this point, manna isn’t enough. They want meat, and so they start to grumble and get angry and complain again.

Moses is fed up and tells the Lord he’s done. He’s had enough. He asks God why all these people and their burden are laid at his feet. Then in one of the most amazing question/interrogation sessions ever put down on papyrus, Moses asks, “Did I conceive all these people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom….’”

Of course, the answer is no. Moses lays down the truth to the Lord in verse 14 and admits the simple fact, “I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me.”

That’s not only for Moses to say. God wishes you would say that sometimes. The Lord wants you to ask for help. You need to when you’re being buried. The Spirit will try to get you to say it, but you’ve got to be the one to declare it. Your child’s wrong attitude is too much, “God, I need your help.” We don’t have enough money to continue in our home, “O Lord, I don’t think I can handle moving.” Your spouse’s illness has been going on for too long, “Please, God, give me strength.” The Bible says God doesn’t give us more than we can handle but it never meant you had to handle all on your own.

            We’re all going to be tested by life because being tested and having to carry things is how we grow in the spirit and character. This comes from God.         In these cases, there’s going to be a way out.

I’m a recycler, including our plastic Publix shopping bags. All these brown Publix bags tend to pile up in the garage, so I stuff lots of them in a larger bag and put that against the wall until I’m ready to drive them over to Publix. I usually end up with dozens and dozens of public bags stuffed to bulging in three or four large bags, all of them stuff into my trunk. Of course, the container at Publix for recycling their bags is another bag. There have been times when I’ve stuff that bag with so many of my bags that I couldn’t close the door completely.

I guess it’s so easy for me to feel like a troublemaker. I usually walk away with my hands behind my back, looking up in the sky, whistling very innocently, like I’ve just done something I shouldn’t have done.

We stuff ourselves with trouble. We hoard the burden and forego the blessing. We go from putting our troubles in bigger bags, to putting all of them in an even bigger bag that’s now overflowing, and then try to close all that behind us, and walk away like nothing’s wrong.

Stop hoarding all the messes around you. Give them away. Return them to their owners. You’ve got to realize enough’s enough. That saggy, burned out feeling ain’t the work of the Lord. It’s your work, and it isn’t blessing you or others.

This, however, isn’t just about individual’s doing too much stuff or taking on more than her or his share. The struggle is often beyond just one person. The truth is there’s also something going on in our society. We’re making a turn that’s not for the better. Overburdened living is something that many people think is necessary. They think it’s necessary, but it’s necessary for others, that is. Our society is being overtaken by the destructive idea that people, the majority of people, shouldn’t be happy. Happiness, ease, enjoyment is the prerogative and privilege of the few. Make many miserable, overwhelmed, struggling, and despairing, and that’s how we know society’s going in the right direction, these few, these wrong-minded and hard-hearted people think and lead others to believe. It’s like the many need to be in pain, overwhelmed, tired, struggling, so the few can know they’re in pleasure. What’s equally sad is that many of these overwhelmed and burdened folk think this is the way things are, and there’s no choice in the matter for them. Or if they think there is something that can be done about it, they blame the wrong people for it. They make an enemy of those who aren’t their enemy, and they instead listen to honey-tinged lips that hide a viper’s tongue.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed; if you’re struggling with personal things and financial matters; if hope and the sense of a solid future elude you, it’s not on you entirely or even primarily. What you’re feeling and sensing is the loss of a shared good life, a shared common world. There’s too much distrust, too much competition, too much perfectionism, too much judgment. Because we’re tearing apart in so many ways much of what we need to have as a society, many are failing or struggling just to survive emotionally, mentally, relationally, culturally, financially. Jesus named it as it is: We’re weary and carrying heavy burdens—we could use some help and rest.

I know someone who has such a love for her son. She would do anything for him. She thought this is what love meant—that you would do anything for another person. You would sacrifice yourself for him or her, for that matter. And so she did. He took all that love and gave his problems to her. She carried him like a ton of weight around for years and years. It wasn’t until two things happened that she was able to stop carrying what wasn’t hers. She realized she wasn’t strong enough to carry him any longer. And, she realized she was hurting him.

It is tempting to swoop in and try to pluck this person out of the muck and take on their pain, sadness, confusion. But to take on more than what is ours is to paralyze ourselves.

Love can mean to sacrifice ourselves, but only if it actually saves the other person. Sacrifice that continues to injure is misplaced burden carrying. You know, when we fly in an airplane with children, the flight attendant’s message is always in case of an emergency and oxygen is needed, adults need to first fix their own oxygen needs and then they can reach over to help their children.

I like what an author wrote, “All my life I'd felt like a lake. A lake where everything was contained, forever. All my experiences, all the different people I'd been, everything I'd had, everything I'd lost...I carried them around with me, all the time.” God’s love for you wants to flow through you, but if you’re a lake filled to the brim with disappointment, anger, frustration, lack of forgiveness, pain, sadness, confusion, doubt, then we can’t get any fresh water in, and nothing can flow out.

Let go of your load. Hand it over to the Lord.

Two hunters decide to go moose hunting in Canada. They hire an airplane to drop them off in a remote region. The pilot drops them off and tells them, "I’ll be back in one week. No more than one moose - got it?" One week passes, and the pilot returns. The hunters have two moose. The pilot says, "Hey, I told you guys no more than one moose. The plane can’t carry two moose." One of the hunters replies, "Look the pilot told us the same thing last year and we gave him a `big` tip to take both moose out." The three of them argue for several minutes more. The pilot gives up and agrees to take both moose. They load up the moose and fire up the plane. The plane shudders and strains trying to take off. It finally gets the wheels off the ground 5 feet, 10 feet. It rises but the pontoons clip the top of the trees and down it goes. The two hunters dazed and confused make their way out of the wreckage. One hunter looks at the other and says, "Where the heck are we?" The other looks around and replies, "About 200 yards farther than we got last year!" 

For many people, the idea of talking about what’s weighing them down or admitting that their struggling can feel like giving up. “I can do it myself” is our favorite motto.  Or to-do lists get longer. Illness comes and we get further behind. We lose our jobs; we worry and feel the burden is more than we can bear. People ask if they can do anything to help us, and we say, “Thank you, but it’s all right. I can handle it myself.” The lake keeps building up higher behind the dam.

We say God is infinite in power, and by power we mean God is infinite in doing power, in giving power, in creating power. God makes things and does things with this infinite power. What we don’t understand or think about often enough is God’s infinite power also includes power to receive, take in, to accept. Any of your burden you want to give away, God will take. Any of the heavy load you’re carrying that’s bringing you down, God will receive.

Unstuff yourself, open up the lake, lighten your burdens. Give to God of infinite power and strength your load of troubles and difficulties. Take your rest, so that you can walk and not be faint, run without wearying, and fly on the wings of God’s blessings.

Can the church say Amen?