Reverend Ref +

SERMON
7 PENTECOST
PROPER 9A

If you didn't know any better, you might think that the gospel passage today came from John; and, indeed, it is often referred to as the Johannine passage. There is the bit about hidden and revealed knowledge, the Son from the Father and the Father in the Son, and the gentleness and rest found in Jesus. And it is because of this very un-Matthean style that makes it a debated passage. These may not be the exact words of Jesus, they may be from a totally alien source, or they may have been added at a later date.

But you know what? It doesn't matter. Regardless of who said it or who wrote it, it's in the canon and we have no option but to examine it and ponder it. When I read this passage, there are usually three stages that I pass through -- kind of like the seven stages of grief, but these are the three stages of Matthew 11:25-30.

The first stage is the "warm and cuddly" stage. "Come to me all you that are weary . . . . I will give you rest . . . . My yoke is easy and my burden is light." Aaahhh, that's so sweet. I have this vision of being on a trip where nothing goes right: you set up the tent in the rain and the dark only to find it upside down the next morning; your stove leaks gas threatening to incinerate the entire campsite; your food gets ruined; your hiking partner develops hypothermia; your car throws a rod and you walk for a mile in sub-zero temps to call a tow truck and walk back and wait in the car without heat for an hour before the tow truck arrives. Problem after problem, your feet hurt, you're cranky, you're sore, you're wet . . . . and then . . . . and then you find a hotel that takes VISA and you have a warm room with clean sheets and a hot shower. "Come to me all you that are weary . . . "

Then the second stage pops into my head. I call this the "dose of reality" stage. "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." Who is he kidding? Easy? You try going through seven years of school, dragging the family off to Chicago, papers, questions, doubts, fears, trying to find a shred of faith you can hang onto. Easy? I DON'T THINK SO.

And a light burden? School loans, creative bill paying, hoping that what your wife makes will be enough to cover at least the food bill. Or, like I've talked about before, trying to discern what God wants you to do, struggling with this whole Christianity thing, learning to make sacrifices so you can attend services on a regular basis, or re-budget your money so you can donate or tithe to the church to keep it open. This whole easy yoke and light burden thing is more like false advertising if you ask me. There is nothing easy or light about it.

Finally, there is stage three, the calm and rational stage. What is Jesus saying to me? How can we use this today? "Come to me all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens." Weary from what? What burdens? How about the weariness of always being expected to do what is right? Or the weariness of always living up to those expectations? Or how about the burden of having a man-made law that purports to be God's law hung around your neck?

Notice, though, that all of this weariness and all of these burdens come from ourselves or other people. Other people try to tell you what's expected, or are disappointed when you don't live up to those expectations, or devise rules and regulations that you "must" live by. And we allow that to build up, or believe that that is what other people expect from us. It's no wonder we are weary.

There's a key word that Jesus says in this passage, and that is "take." Jesus isn't telling us that we have to put his yoke on; he isn't giving us a burden to deal with. He is asking us to take his yoke voluntarily. And that makes all the difference in the world. Most people don't take something unless they want it. A new job, a hobby, even a thief takes what he wants.

Have you ever noticed that there's a basic difference between what you want to do and what you have to do? Yesterday I had to drive up to Flathead Lake to pick up The Kid. Up at 5, out by 6, there by 10, out by 12, home by 5. I would much rather have preferred to spend at least a day up there enjoying the lake, and I wasn't thrilled by spending that much time in the car. My back hurt, my knee hurt and I was tired.

But last month I had the family up at 5:30 and on the road by 6 two days in a row so we could drive back to Chicago. We went back to see some old friends, to renew old friendships, to see the class of '05 graduate, and to eat at some favorite restaurants. My back hurt just as bad, my knee hurt just as bad, and I was just as tired; but it was a trip we wanted to take.

Just like any hobby or job that you want to take up, Jesus is asking us to take up his yoke. If we want to take it, then we will find a way to make it work. Because when we want something, then the sacrifice doesn't seem all that heavy and the time spent with it doesn't seem to wear us down.

Yes, being a Christian is hard work, but if it's something that we truly want to take up, then Jesus was right: his yoke is easy and his burden is light.