SERMON Time after Pentecost Lectionary 14 July 3, 2011

Transcription

1 Zechariah 9:9-12 Psalm 145:8-14 Romans 7:15-25a Matthew 11:16-1`9, SERMON Time after Pentecost Lectionary 14 July 3, 2011 Brothers and sisters in Christ grace to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus, who is the Christ. Amen. You may have heard or read the following story, told by Aesop: A man and his son were leading a donkey to town. After traveling for a little while, they passed a group of young girls whom the man overheard saying, Look at that old fool! At least one of them could be riding the donkey. So the father placed his son on the donkey. They traveled on further and met some women. One of them, within earshot, said, Look at the young brat riding the donkey while his father walks! So the father stopped the donkey and joined his son on its back. Shortly after that, they encountered some men. I d say, that s a cruel thing to do to that donkey, said one of the men, who was within hearing distance of the donkey s owner. Obviously that is too much weight for the beast. He then added, Those two ought to be carrying the donkey. So the father and son dismounted and they tied the animal s legs, and with a pole across their shoulders, struggled along with the donkey, until they came to a bridge. On the bridge, they met a bunch of people who laughed at them.

2 The noise frightened their donkey as it fought to free itself. This increased the uproar of the crowd and in the midst of it all, the animal slipped off the pole and over the bridge. The donkey fell into the river below and drowned. This story reveals a great truth which is still true to this day. Oftentimes, people are never satisfied. Do any of you know someone like that? Someone who whines about everything. Nothing or no one is ever good enough. Perhaps you experience this in your own immediate families. In today s Gospel reading, Jesus tells the crowd that they are like snotty little children sitting in the marketplace. The children complain because the people around them won t dance when they play their flutes, and they won t cry when they mourn. Well, this shows us that whiny children are not only a recent phenomenon. They were known even in the time of Jesus. But it isn t just children who act this way. It is adults as well. Jesus points out how the crowds had criticized John the Baptizer because he fasted and abstained from alcoholic drink. Now they criticize Jesus because he indulges in these things. You can t win, Jesus is saying. When you look to society for acceptance and approval, you will never receive it. You will never be good enough. There will always be those who will unfairly criticize you. Now, of course, we all want to be accepted. We want to fit in. We don t want to be criticized, laughed at, ignored, or made fun of. But let s face it. Most, if not all of us, have faced rejection and unfair criticism by others at some point in our lives.

3 We can identify with the man, his son and the donkey in Aesop s tale. We can identify with John and Jesus whenever we re on the receiving end of rejection and unfair criticism. No matter how hard we try to be people pleasers, we discover that sometimes, they re never satisfied. Whether it s our boss at work, our teachers at school, our parents at home, our spouse, other family members, friends and neighbors. There are times when these relationships will make us feel rejected and unfairly criticized. Sometimes this rejection and unfair criticism can have devastating consequences for us. It can lower our self-esteem. It can damage our capacity to trust others. It can even lead to permanent addictions to drugs, sex, food, work, or anything else that provides some sort of escape or sense of security. A while back, a movie came out entitled; Monsters Ball. It was a story about a man who was in prison on death row. The story focused on the man s wife and son, and how they dealt with his execution. The man s son looked to be about 12 or 13 years old and suffered from severe obesity. His mother, who was played by Halle Barry would scream at him and call him horrible names regarding his weight. She would slap him around and tell him how much of a loser he was. In response to this, the boy would hide food under his pillow and in his dresser drawers. Eating was the only way he could cope with his family situation. Halle Barry was later interviewed on television about the movie. She said that the scenes with the boy were the hardest of the whole movie. She constantly told the boy that she really didn t mean what she was saying. These are burdens that we all carry around with us. It might not be obesity, but all of us feel that we are lacking in some way or another.

4 We re not tall enough, not pretty enough, we don t have enough money to keep up with the Jones s, we don t have a whole lot of education, our kids are not as well adjusted and successful as we would like, our grades aren t good enough, our sexual orientation might be different than most, our marriage is less than wonderful, our jobs are not exactly what we want. These are burdens that our society puts on us. They are then reinforced by advertising. We are never going to be like the people we see in the magazines and on television. However, we are made to believe that if we are not, we are failing in some way. Again, the burden of trying to be acceptable weighs us down. But this is exactly what Jesus is addressing. Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. First of all, Jesus bids us to Come. If we want rest and peace of mind, we have to come. We must be willing to let something else either wait, or learn to do without altogether. It kind of reminds me of our dog. Sophie sleeps in the laundry room. When I am ready for bed, she is usually somewhere else in the house. So I find her and say come. Usually she just stands there and looks at me. I say; Sophie, Come! Again, she just stands there looking at me like I m some sort of an idiot. Finally, I have to go and pick her up and carry her into the laundry room. This is how a lot of people respond to God. They hear the call, but don t think it s worth the effort to get up and see why the call was given. Jesus said; Come to Me. If we desire rest, we need to first come to the one who is offering us the rest. Jesus goes on to qualify who is eligible to come to him. He says, Come to me all who are weary and burdened. Jesus invitation is only extended to those who realize that they need help. Have you ever tried to help a five year old get dressed?

5 I remember those days quite well. We hear the familiar words; Stop it, I can do it myself. So, you go ahead and give in. Five minutes later you see shoes on the wrong feet, buttons uneven, tags sticking out, hair that s tangled in knots. That s what we look like to God without Jesus a mess. You see, Jesus did not come to help people who could do it all themselves. He also did not come to help only those with big burdens. There is no burden too small that cannot be given over to Jesus. All that s needed is that we admit that we need help. Only then can Jesus give us what we need. It is only when we are broken that Jesus can again make us whole. There is a monastery in Greece perched high on a cliff, several hundred feet in the air. The only way to reach the monastery is to be suspended in a basket which is pulled to the top by several monks who pull and tug with all their strength. Obviously the ride up the steep cliff in that basket is terrifying. One tourist got exceedingly nervous about half-way up as he noticed that the rope by which he was suspended was old and frayed. With a trembling voice he asked the monk who was riding with him in the basket how often they changed the rope. The monk thought for a moment and answered serenely: Whenever it breaks. It dawned on me that God operates the same way in our lives. As long as we remain arrogant and determined to do things our way, God can t shape us and mold us. Like a wild stallion, we remain useless until we are broken. I would like to close with a story that really illustrates this point. A strong young athlete was wadding waist deep in the shallow part of a recreational lake. Unknowingly he stepped off an underwater ledge and plunged fifteen feet beneath the surface of the water.

6 After several seconds he bobbed to the top of the water flailing his arms and gasping for breath. The lifeguard attentively watched the situation from a nearby bank. A friend of the struggling young athlete grabbed the lifeguard by the arm and cried out, Bob can t swim, you ve got to help him. But the lifeguard did nothing as Bob continued kicking and splashing wildly. The young man s friend furiously yelled at the lifeguard, If you won t go in after him, I will. Calmly but firmly the lifeguard said, No one can help him yet. I ll help him when he s ready for my help. After a couple more minutes the young athlete stopped his struggles, as his body became limp. The patient lifeguard suddenly dove into the water, swam out to the young man and brought him to shore for a successful rescue. Later the friend asked the lifeguard, Why did you wait so long to help my friend. The lifeguard responded, As long as Bob was trying to save himself there was nothing I could have done for him. If I had swam out to him he would have grabbed me and pulled me under with him. Only when he was weak, exhausted and had given up was I able to save him. Could these also be the words of Jesus? Only when we are weak and give up our struggling can Jesus give us rest. Only when we give our lives over to his love and grace can Jesus save us. And isn t this what the message of the Gospel is all about. Amen. May the peace that passes all understanding be with you now and for life everlasting. Amen.

7 How many of you have ever been on a farm? What kings of things do you see on a farm? Crops, animals, tractors What exactly do tractors do? Plant, plow Tractors have only been around about 100 years. What do you think people did before tractors? How did they plow their fields? They used big horses or oxen. A lot of times it would take two of them to pull the plow How do you think the farmer got them to go in the same direction? They wore what is called a yoke. Do you know what a yoke is? Jesus talked about a yoke in our Bible story today. He said that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. What do you think he meant by that? Perhaps we can imagine our lives yoked to Jesus. Jesus would be our partner. Wherever Jesus goes, we will go. That way we won t get all tired out by trying to do everything ourselves. When we are yoked to Jesus, Jesus leads the way. He helps us deal with the tough times and the burdens of life. Let us pray.dear Jesus, thank you for wanting us to be by your side. Thank you for making our burdens in life a little easier. Thank you for helping us to be strong. Amen.