What The Bell!?

"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me... For my yoke is easy and my burden is light," (Matt 11:29-30)

Do I have any Food Network lovers in the house? Of course I do. How could you not love the Food Network? Iron Chef America? Chopped? If you don't love it, you are either way too involved in sports channels or are still trying to convince yourself that your life is better off without cable. On that last point you might be correct... maybe... but that is a blog topic for another day.

I bring it up because a few years ago I was flipping through the channels and happened to catch Rachael Ray doing her thing.  Now most of the time when I see Rachael Ray on the TV I have this overwhelming urge to say, "Hey! ... Just sit there and calm down..." (She 's a bit high energy for me.) Be that as it may, I have to admit that this woman knows her way around the kitchen and in this moment she was working with one of my favorite ingredients... the bell pepper.

"Yeah. Yeah. I said something nice. Cool it, Rachael!"

So fresh. So crisp. The bell pepper rings out with deliciousness and for me it doth toll. But this blog is not about bell peppers; it's about what Rachael did with those peppers. To prep it for chopping, she simply halved it then ripped out the guts with her hand! I KNOW, RIGHT?! MINDBLOWN!!! It took her 2 seconds!

All these years I had been delicately carving out the seeds and white stuff with a small knife while making sure I didn't get any of those tiny seeds on my hands and fingers. In that moment, it was as if Rachel had turned to me and yelled, "Come on, you pansy! Get your hands dirty! This is cooking, not ballet class!" And she was right.

"But, but... the seeds are tiny... and sticky... and... eeeee..."

What once was tedious and cumbersome was now fast and efficient because I learned how to do it properly.

So I go back to the Matthew passage I quoted at the beginning of this article. At first look, I see contradiction. A slow reading of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7) will quickly reveal that Jesus' way of doing life is quite difficult. It goes against what feels natural. I am supposed to love my enemies, make things right with my adversary, give to the needy, not allow anger and lust to dictate my actions, not judge others and not worry about money, food or clothes... THESE ARE ALL THINGS THAT I DO ON A REGULAR BASIS! What is easy or light about changing how I do everything???

"Maybe if we switch sides..."

Why do you think Rachael Ray on the Food Network? Could it be that she knows what she is talking about?

What if the Sermon on the Mount was not given to make our lives more difficult? What if the way we are living life is actually tedious, cumbersome, and more destructive than we think? What if Jesus actually knows what He is talking about? What if his yoke truly is easy and his burden light?

What would that say about Jesus? What does that say about us?

In conclusion... I like bell peppers.

"Heyo! Ring-a-ding-ding!"