Pentecost Five

Sermon for the 5^th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A – 5 July 2020 | Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 | The Rev. Beth A. Schlegel |

 

“But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates,

¹⁷ “‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’

¹⁸ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ ¹⁹ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”

At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; ²⁶ yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. ²⁷ All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. ²⁸ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

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Which would you prefer – to carry a sack of potatoes in a shoulder bag for a mile, or to carry those potatoes in a backpack for five miles?

Now, which would you prefer – to carry two sacks of potatoes in a backpack for five miles, or to pull two sacks of potatoes in a cart while yoked to another person for five miles?

Most of us would probably agree that the second option in each case is the easier.

A backpack distributes the load like a single yoke and being yoked to another person also distributes the load.

It is easier to bear a load that is distributed.

Now, here is one more choice – which would you prefer – to carry those potatoes in the backpack with someone pressing down on the pack, or to carry them without the added pressure?

This is the choice Jesus offers.

We still carry the potatoes – but we don’t have to do it alone or with added pressure when we are yoked to Jesus.

For Jesus’ followers, the potatoes were a religion that had become oppressive with rules and regulations that made it difficult to be considered faithful.

The Pharisees had added over 600 rules about how to keep the Sabbath!

This was a heavy burden that Jesus’ hearers were yoked to carry,

Other burdens were the constant stress of being subjected to Roman rule, with its own set of laws and customs that made being faithful to God’s Word difficult.

For some, the burdens are illnesses like leprosy, palsy, blindness, and mental instability.

For others, the stresses of economics and family life.

So what are the potatoes in our lives?

What are the burdens we carry in our lives?

Most of us right now are carrying a burden of stress related to COVID-19 – be it fear of exposure,

• uncertainty about the future,
• concerns for children or parents,
• and weariness of the measures needed to keep ourselves and others safe.

Some of us carry burdens of loneliness and isolation; others of us are Zoom-weary.

All of us are grieving something –or someone –

• a favorite shop that has gone out of business;
• fireworks displays that will not take place,
• a loved one who died when we could not visit to say goodbye;
• and the loss of ways of life such as Sunday worship and going to school that simply cannot return to the way things used to be.

Into our lives, Jesus comes and invites us to lay down our burdens at his feet.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.

Jesus invites us to lay down our burdens. To take off the loaded backpacks,

and to set aside the heavy wooden yoke upon our shoulders.

Jesus invites us to be unyoked from the team that is directed by worry, fear, or the world that seeks only its own profit and instead to be yoked to his team.

He invites us to ignore the public opinion that gets us riled up and to turn off the burdensome media stream that fills our ears and minds with information that may or may not be true.

• Come to me, he invites. Come where I can speak into your heart and mind and soul.
• Come and be yoked to my team and learn to go where I guide you.
• Come and learn from me how to trust in your heavenly Father.
• Come and learn how to live as I do.
• Come and put my yoke on your shoulders – it is much lighter than the one you carry now.
• Yoked Together as my people, Pull the plow of the kingdom of God that I direct.
• My yoke will not make you tired – it will energize you.
• For I am a merciful drover and will not work you to the bone.
• The labor you give under my yoke is not unto death, but life.

A yoke is an instrument of submission – it requires obedience and work.

And before you get upset by that word, let me remind you that we all live in submission to something or someone.

We are all yoked to someone or something –

The question is, Is Jesus holding the reins or someone else?

Is it the mission of God that we labor for, or our own earthly desires?

Jesus invites us to consider the heaviness of being yoked to worldly security;

the wearisome burden of seeking the approval of others;

fruitless burden of self-indulgence.

Jesus especially invites us to lay aside the burden of proving our worthiness to receive the mercy of God.

Take my yoke upon you, he invites, and learn from me – take my direction.

For I am gentle and humble-hearted and you will find rest.

What does Jesus mean? How can we be yoked for labor and still find rest?

First of all, Jesus is a merciful master – he uses no whip to make us work harder, he does not make our inbox unmanageable (we do that to ourselves), and he forgives mistakes.

There is rest in knowing that our mistakes are not disastrous.

Second, the labor is that of the new creation. It is life-giving and life-affirming. It is not a rat race or drudgery.

There is rest in knowing our lives have purpose and meaning beyond our own survival.

And finally, we labor together with others and with the Holy Spirit in us.

Jesus bears the burden of sin on the cross and we get to labor as though the yoke has little or no weight at all.

There is rest in knowing that success is entirely Jesus’ responsibility, not ours, though we receive the eternal reward for his labor.

Christ has already won the victory by his resurrection from the dead.

He is the one who knows the burdens we carry and in tender mercy and love, bids us “Come to me.”

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.