Loving God, you set us free from the burdens that weigh down our souls by joining us to your Son, Jesus Christ.  Help us to continue to learn from him, even as we grow in faith and in love, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    When you hear Jesus say, “Take my yoke upon you,” what do you picture?  Do you see a couple of oxen yoked together and pulling a plow behind them?  Do you picture a bunch of slaves who are chained together and also held together by a yoke around their necks?  Or do you picture a piece of wood that sits on your neck and shoulders and allows you to carry two buckets of water back to your village?

    Whichever picture you use, the yoke will seem heavy and restrictive and burdensome – and yet, Jesus’ yoke is promised to be easy, and his burden, light (Mt. 11:30).  This promise is for us, just as it was for the crowd who encountered Jesus in today’s gospel.  Rest assured, their burdens were starting to wear on them.

    The common, every-day people just like us were starting to believe that they could never, ever please God, no matter how hard they tried.  There were so many rules to remember.  How could anybody ever keep track of them?  Take oaths, for example (Mt. 23:16-22).  If they swore by the sanctuary that they would do something, they were told that this was not a binding oath.  However, if they swore by the gold of the sanctuary, now that meant something!  Similarly, they were taught that if they swore by the altar to do something, that wasn’t binding.  Instead, they had to swear by the gift that is on the altar for it to be a good oath.

    They had to remember to take 10% of their mint or dill or cummin and give it to the priests and Levites.  They had to remember not to gather any food on the Sabbath, even if they were hungry.  They had to remember to do a ceremonial washing of the outside of each cup and plate and bowl before eating out of them.  They had to be careful not to share a meal with the wrong kind of person (like tax collectors or prostitutes or known sinners).  They had to look good at all costs, because somewhere someone was going to judge them and find them to be lacking.

    After all, according to the religious leaders, even John the Baptist and Jesus weren’t up to snuff.  John the Baptist stayed away from alcohol and fasted a lot of the time and lived a simple life in the wilderness.  They concluded that John must have a demon and wasn’t to be listened to.  Jesus, on the other hand, had no problem enjoying a good feast or sharing the same table with tax collectors and sinners.  They concluded that Jesus was a glutton and a drunkard, and obviously hung out with the wrong kind of people.

    Who could ever be good enough for God if even prophets like John and Jesus were judged to be unacceptable?  What a yoke to try and live under!  No wonder the ordinary, faithful lay people were drawn both to John and to Jesus.  Surely there was more to God than all of these detailed rules!  Yet, have any of you ever felt some of those same burdens in the church?

    I think of the young couple who were never welcome again in their home church because that first baby came just a little too soon after the wedding.  I think of the young man who didn’t have any good clothes and was judged to be disrespectful when he showed up in his blue jeans – the only clothes he had.  I think of the families who felt like they had to hide their liquor cabinet or their TV or their playing cards, because otherwise they would be judged to be non-Christian.  I think of the children who didn’t have 25 cents to bring with them, and thus were denied a Christmas treat bag.

    These are the kind of burdens that can come from other people and that make us feel like unless we conform to a certain set of standards, we will never be acceptable.  And how many of us secretly believe that God judges us by the same standards?

    There’s God at that giant scoreboard once again, just waiting to catch us doing something we shouldn’t so he can mark it down.  Said a bad word - check.  Was jealous of her neighbour - check.  Ate a sinful dessert - check.  Went to a football game on Sunday - check.  Didn’t wear a suit and tie to church - check.  Didn’t volunteer enough this week - check.  Oh - went to church and gave an offering, maybe that’s a check in the other column.  Pretty soon that yoke feels as heavy as ever.

    Yet, today’s gospel reminds us that God’s grace and mercy simply don’t work that way.  In the face of all of the nit-picking and the criticism, Jesus points to the things that are most important.  “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Mt. 9:13).  Justice, and mercy, and faith are what God wants (Mt. 23:23).  Love God with your whole heart and soul and mind, and love your neighbour as yourself (Mt. 22:37-39).  “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Mt. 22:40).  This is what is important.

    There is also that rather odd statement in today’s gospel about wisdom being vindicated by her deeds.  It seems to point back to earlier in the same chapter where Jesus points out what has been happening: “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them” (Mt. 11:5).  One can almost hear the words that are not spoken by Jesus: “All of these amazing things are happening, and you’re going to focus in on who I’m eating with?  Seriously?”  Yet, those who were far less educated were able to recognize in Jesus the healing and life-giving power of God – for such was God’s gracious will (Mt. 11:26).

    Have you ever noticed that God always seems to act in ways that go against our human standards?  We may think that God should be up there with that big scoreboard, but instead God is gracious and merciful and compassionate.  In fact, God tells us the moment we put our faith in Jesus Christ, or the moment that we are baptized, that we are acceptable.  We are created in the image of God, and we are redeemed and made holy through Jesus.  God makes us a saint to start with, and as we grow in Christ, we start to think and act more and more like Jesus.

    Rather than giving us a long list of do’s and don’t’s, Jesus lifts the burden of the law from us and directs us toward only one thing: love of God and neighbour.  In fact, we might actually picture the yoke as a two person thing, where we are yoke-mates with Jesus, and he moves us in the direction of love.  We are free, of course, to pull in other directions, or even to get rid of the yoke entirely.  However, as distasteful as the idea might seem to us, being yoked to Jesus is strangely life-giving.

    In Jesus we find freedom and joy rather than slavery and burdens.  In Jesus we are free from the burden of sin and the need to prove ourselves.  In Jesus, we are free to rest deeply and securely in God’s grace and love, for it is what is in our hearts that matters, and not how we appear to others.

Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Amen.

Lectionary 14(A)                            Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
July 3, 2011
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2011 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved