Heavy Loads and a Shared Table
Rev. Bobby Musengwa
Transitional General Presbyter
Most parents know. Sometimes we tell our children to do one thing, and the children see our actions or behavior contradicting our own teaching.
We have seen this happening with teachers, coaches, elected leaders, and many other professionals.
Religious leaders are not immune to this discrepancy.
Such human and institutional behavior is what Matthew 23:1-12 is addressing.
Jesus isn’t tossing out Moses, Torah, or leadership. He says, “do whatever they teach you.”
His target is more specific: a settled gap between the authority people claim and the obedience they practice.
Every teacher falls short of what they teach, and Jesus knows it.
This is about leaders who tie up heavy burdens, lay them on other people’s shoulders, and won’t lift a finger to help.
Notice who’s listening. Jesus speaks to the crowds and to his own disciples.
That includes us. This is not a verdict on Judaism.
It’s an argument within the family of faith, and it works as a mirror for any religious community.
The Old Testament has been sounding this alarm for a long time.
Moses shared the load of leadership.
Ezra and the Levites made Torah understandable to ordinary people.
Malachi expected teachers to guard knowledge without playing favorites.
Ezekiel called out shepherds who fed themselves instead of the flock.
That last image matters, because heavy burdens aren’t only personal. They can be built into systems.
Many faith leaders and economists argue that some of our public policies do exactly what Jesus describes: they load weight onto people who have the least and lift it off people who have the most.
Consider a few examples that are part of the debate in the public square across the country:
Tax systems that lean heavily on sales and fees, which take a bigger share of a low-income family’s paycheck than a wealthy family’s.
Payday lending rules that let interest rates climb so high that a short-term loan becomes a long-term trap.
Fines, fees, and cash bail that keep people in jail or in debt because they can’t afford to pay, while those with money walk free.
Cuts to food assistance and health coverage, paired with tax breaks for the highest earners.
Weak enforcement when employers fail to pay workers what they’ve earned.
Good people disagree about the causes and the cures.
We can still ask together who is carrying the weight.
Jesus offers a different picture: brothers and sisters under one parent, learners under one teacher, and leaders measured by service.
Titles and the best seats get swapped for a shared table, and everyone gets fed.
Mission Presbytery strives to be as responsive and inclusive as possible to the plight of God’s people.
Yet, this passage impacts us as well.
We can never be satisfied with ourselves while misery continues to affect the people of God.
Perhaps the passage asks us in Mission Presbytery, whether elder, pastor, or committee chair, the question:
Are we making life easier to carry for the people around us, or heavier?
Do we speak up when the load is unfair, or stay quiet because the seat we’re in is comfortable?
Sometimes it’s easier to help people downstream instead of asking who is poisoning the water upstream.
Justice requires that we go upstream and address the causes of this injustice.
Jesus certainly asks the deeper questions about those polluting the water upstream.
And, like the prophets calling for justice to roll down like a a mighty stream, he paid the ultimate price with his life.
This week, pick one burden someone in your community is carrying, and help lift it. Then ask who is helping to place it there.
Grace and peace to you, my dear friends!
Peace,
Rev. Bobby Musengwa
Transitional General Presbyter
May it happen.