Genesis 1:26-2:4(a) Matthew 11: Become My Yoke Mate

Transcription

1 Genesis 1:26-2:4(a) Matthew 11:28-30 Become My Yoke Mate In 1882, Peter McGuire of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters suggested a holiday to honor working people in the United States. This led to a parade down the streets of New York City and two years later, President Grover Cleveland signed a bill making the first Monday in September an official holiday, known today as Labor Day. So, the day that was designed to honor workers has appropriately become day for rest. Not only a great idea, but also very Biblical! For many, Labor Day marks the official end of summer. School is back in full swing and folks take that that last trip to the lake or the beach or use the weekend to close up the summer cottage. For those of us in the south, where warm weather lasts awhile longer, it may be a day filled with water skiing or the first home football game or the day when the neighborhood pool closes. Still, it is a time to relax and enjoy family and friends as we anticipate the fall. As I thought about suitable Scripture for today, the Holy Spirit brought this much loved and familiar passage across my desk and into my heart. My thinking was that it discussed laboring and resting but of course, that is NOT AT ALL the issue that Jesus is addressing at least not in the way that I had planned. In truth, these words are a great invitation into a partnership of being disciples and making disciples and is therefore an important word to hear on ANY Sunday. This passage is most often used as a word of comfort at memorial services to assure us that, in death, our loved one has been delivered out of his or her suffering and into the promised rest of God. But that is not why Jesus offered these words either.

2 Jesus shares this thought at the culmination of a discussion where ordinary people expressed their sorrow because they felt they never could do enough. This was because the Jew in Jesus day had become bogged down with the trivial details of the Law those ordinances that God asked his followers to adhere to. But because mankind had expanded so much on the original Law, given to Moses, the letter of the law had surpassed the intent of the Law and no one could possibly live by following all of its precepts. God s people were burdened by the Law rather than being blessed by it. God, recognizing how worn out His people were with trying to earn approval and acceptance, sends the reminder that his Son has come to save us because we cannot save ourselves. No amount of military might, political power or personal magnetism will guarantee us a spot in Heaven. We cannot work our way into receiving salvation with our good deeds, no matter how well-intentioned we are. We are saved by grace alone. And as I thought about what these words might mean to us, I realized that most of us start out feeling blessed by our work whether our job is to be a teacher, a student, a construction worker, a parent, a child, a butcher, a baker or a candlestick maker. But I wonder how many of us end up feeling burdened by unrealistic demands, not enough time, not enough pay, too many personalities to deal with on a daily basis and a plethora of other factors. Thankfully, Jesus words offer great hope to each one here as we answer our call to be disciples and to make disciples no matter what our vocation or profession is. He reminds us that there is a less burdensome way to fulfill that Law and that is my letting him share our yoke. By inviting him into partnership in our lives, not just in work, but in our every-day living. Therefore, Jesus does not diminish the weight of our accountability to God but helps us bear the

3 responsibility. This is Good News, because from the moment of our existence, God created us for work! After God created the universe and everything in it, according to the writer of Genesis, God created humankind. Specifically, God created humankind in his image. Of course, this is very perplexing since humankind comes in so many sizes, shapes, colors, abilities, personalities, flaws and the like. You have all heard the story of the Sunday School teacher who asked the little girl what she was drawing. A picture of God came the reply. The teacher said sweetly, But dear, no one knows what God looks like. The children replied, just as sweetly, They will when I m finished. But I believe being made in the image of God means that God created us with the capacity to love, because that is the very nature of God. And loving us as God does, and trusting us to love as well, God gave us dominion over everything in creation so that we could enjoy life and glorify God. But being humans and not God, we have certainly made a mess of things. And not only that, but some of us don t even enjoy it. How many times do you encounter a friend at church, at school or in the grocery store and ask how things are going and receive an answer like this? I m exhausted.i m stressed to the limit I m bone tired.i m running on fumes I am burned out beyond belief. Yet, I think we can also relate to the burden that the people of Jesus day were carrying because many of us got in the state that we are by trying to DO too much rather than just BEING children of God, made in God s image. So, Jesus looked at the faces of his people and over their bent and weary heads and gave them an analogy that they could relate to. He saw the oxen straining in the nearby field and he

4 said, Bring me your burdens and I will become your yoke mate. And MY yoke is easy. And Jesus says the same to you and me. Since few of us are around oxen on a regular basis, I will remind us all that a yoke is a harness, designed for TWO animals to wear at the same time. It literally binds them together. Of course, the primary purpose of being yoked is to be able to share a load of work together. This, in and of itself, is significant. You see, it reminds us that Jesus yoke is not restrictive or binding. We just heard that Jesus yoke is easy. It s really a gift, a practice that harnesses for us a pathway to newness, aliveness. It is a partnership. And Jesus then adds: Learn from this gift, this way that I offer you because my burden is light. Now there are two ways that we can interpret this. Jesus could be saying that his burden is light, as in the opposite of heavy. Or he COULD be saying that his burden is light as in a source of energy. And if we look at it this way, I think there are quite a few gifts that we can take home from Jesus words. So, open your hearts and accept these gifts. First, when we allow Jesus to become our yoke mate, Jesus offers the gift of Sabbath time. Jesus is a Jew; he knows about Sabbath time. Not only is Jesus echoing one of the Ten Commandments: Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy, but he is reminding us what the gift of Sabbath brings us. A day of rest. And this rest is more than sleep; it s rejuvenation, restoration, re-connection to our life force, to fullness of life. In the Creation story God worked six days and then God rested on the seventh day. If it was good enough for God, it should be good enough for us. But how many of us really take advantage of this aspect of Jesus light burden? Rabbi Abraham Heschel calls Sabbath a sanctuary in time. This means it is a day of delight, a day to savor the world. Being rather

5 than doing. Evelyn Underhill says that we spend our lives conjugating three verbs: to have, to want, and to do. But the essential verb is to be. Being restful means living in the present moment, not regretting the past or feeling anxious about the future. This is the light the energy that Sabbath rest gives us. The second gift Jesus offers us when we allow him to be our yoke mate is release or letting go. Being in partnership with Jesus means sharing our labor and our rest with him. This gives us the opportunity to let go of stresses and pressures, to release the inner obstacles that block us. It also calls to mind the words of that much-loved Psalm, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. In other words, when we release everything to God we have all that we need simply by being in God s presence. When Mel Williams retired as a Baptist pastor, he was worshiping with some Quaker friends one day near Durham, NC. They were sitting quietly, eyes closed, enjoying the open windows and fresh springtime air. Children were playing outside, and he could hear a child in the distance, chanting or singing, over and over, Let it go, let it go. At first, he thought that some children were tugging on a rope or a ball or some toy; but then he realized that God was sending him a direct message, as a child was singing the chorus from the recent Disney movie Frozen. Let it go, let it go. At that moment, Rev. Williams knew that whatever dilemma, problem, or anxiety was clogging his insides, God was calling him to let it go. When we invite Jesus to be our yoke mate, we give Jesus the hard part of the burden and let him carry it for us. And through being yoked to Christ and letting go of self, we offer genuine human love and friendship that honors OUR need by letting us be who we are yet bringing the presence of Christ to someone else.

6 And finally, when we observe the Sabbath that was modeled for us by God and release our burdens to our companion Jesus Christ, who carries them with us, we are given the gift of energy for our work in the world. For being disciples of God and making disciples for Christ. In essence, we exchange of burden of the Law, of always having to do things a certain way, for the discipleship of grace. And then we carry that grace to others. This happens only we fully understand that Jesus did not come to offer freedom from work but freedom from labor, by sharing our work with us. Therefore, the easy yoke, the light yoke, the energizing yoke, means accepting the grace that helps us find purpose in our work when we make ALL of our work about discipleship. And once again, Jesus is our role model for this. He was both a mystic and a social reformer; he was a contemplative and an activist. He was often going off to pray, to re-connect to the wellspring. Then he would head back to his ministry of compassion, justice, equality, and healing. This can be our pattern for living as well. We all have our personal leadings, our callings for specific work that continues the mission of Jesus. But we can t do it without daily attention to our inner life, getting back to the energy of our yoke mate. Jesus is still teaching us this wisdom, handing us the gifts Sabbath, release, and energy for discipleship. All for the purpose of abundant life, for us and those we serve. Come to me, Jesus says to my way, my practice. I will give you rest. This rest is better than sleep; it s rest for the soul. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The Rev. Julie Schaaf Nazareth Presbyterian Church, Sept. 2, 2018

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