A fifth grade Sunday School teacher was teaching on this Gospel text and asked her class if they knew what a “yoke” was. Most of the class agreed that it was the yellow part in the center of an egg, but one child had a different idea. He said, “It’s a collar you put around a horse.” The teacher wanting to go deeper asked him, “Then what would be the yoke of Christ?” He thought a minute and answered, “I suppose that’s when God’s got you by the throat.”
I wonder – as a whole – how well we understand this scripture…”Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Like our young boy said, it’s a kind of collar – and more often than not it is used on oxen. Normally two oxen are “yoked together” - and therefore called a “yoke of oxen.” But the point is that they are paired – they share the load, whether it is pulling a wagon or plowing a field. So, when Jesus says, “take my yoke and learn from me…” he’s telling us to partner with him in whatever the job is that we have to do. He is going to help us shoulder the load, whatever it is that is weighing us down in the life.
Several years ago, there was a popular bumper sticker that said, “God is my co-pilot”. Soon after that a new one came out that said, “If God’s your co-pilot, more over. The wrong person’s driving.” One that said, “God is my navigator” might be more accurate. So yoking ourself to God is allowing him to help shoulder whatever your burden is and helping you to navigate rough waters.
My meditation this morning was on this verse. It said, “Whatever burden you have to carry, God will shoulder the better part of it. God will take the greater portion of your struggle on himself. He will bear the extra weight and move with you to resolution.” - - - Now, I can pick up this bottle of water, and it’s not very heavy. But if I hold it out there long enough, it will become heavier and heavier until it’s too much to hold any longer.
We all have things that are burdens to us – they might be emotional, they might be personal, they might be physical, they might be business related – but whatever they are, they can eventually weigh us down. These are the burdens that Jesus is willing to help us carry.
This is an invitation to rest in the Lord, trusting him to be sufficient for our needs. I think we sometimes have a hard time living into that trust. All those self-help books tell us is that we need to be sufficient for our own needs. So some people have trouble believing in God’s ability (or willingness) to help us.
Jesus starts out this passage - to what will I compare this generation? I think every generation has said that about the next generation.
My mother couldn’t stand the “rock and roll” music that we listened to and loved. Her parents didn’t like the jitterbug she liked. Then when my kids were growing up, hard rock was all the rage, and I guaranty I didn’t like that. I’m not too fond of rap music either, but an early fore-runner was the opening number from “The Music Man” and I liked that.
In the days of Abraham, marriages were arranged. Today’s first lesson is about procuring a wife for Isaac. Abraham didn’t want Isaac marrying any of the local Canaanite women, so he sent his servant back to his home land to find a wife from among his kin folk. Some of you may remember “Fiddler on the Roof.” In this movie, the daughter of Tevye informed her father that she wanted to marry for love. Even in those days, marriages were arranged, but times were changing, and Tevye had to learn to change with them.
Society today is strange. Everyone you meet is different from everyone else. There are so many different types of people - some are proud and vain, some are timid and shy, some inflated with their own self-worth and others are trying to prove their self-worth. Some people don’t need or want help from anyone. Some are so needy that they can’t (or won’t) do anything for themselves.
As a people, we often stray away from our relationship with God. I moved away from God during my late teens and early twenties. It’s wasn’t really a conscious decision, but I just had other things to do with my time. And once you’ve strayed away, it’s hard to get back. Some people get embarrassed; others feel undeserving, some make excuses, but in any case they often find it hard to return to God. They may fear that reconciliation is beyond them, that they are not worthy, that they can’t live up to a commitment with God.
But our God is like the father in the parable of the Prodigal Son. The father did not pursue the younger son, he let him go. But he did leave the gate of home unlocked in case he returned. And that’s what God does with us, He always leaves the gate open, so that when we make the first step to come back, we will find the path unobstructed. And although reconciliation with God is unearned, it is nonetheless predicated on our desire for a restored relationship. We have to know when we need help and be willing to accept it, but we must always remember that this is God’s free gift, and not our right.
Part of this problem may have to do with our underlying need for self-esteem – our need to understand our value as a human being. Some people feel like they have to prove their worth, and I realize now that was me some years back. In some ways, I kept apologizing for my existence and trying to prove that I had a right to exist. Other people are over-inflated – and it’s not hard to get to that point either. Both views are off-balance. We need God’s love to help us realize that we are created in His image and simply being born into this world means that God wants us to be and that he takes delight in our existence.
Life is something of a balancing act - living into God’s standards or falling to the ways of the world. Paul talks about that in today’s lesson. He states, “I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” It wasn’t easy for Paul, so why should we think it will be any easier for us?
The grace of God is later revealed when Paul tells us, “God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do; sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh…” Jesus in the likeness of mankind redeemed us for all time.
Jesus starts out telling us, “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, `He has a demon'; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, `Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'” Sometimes you just can’t win in this world of ours. I think this was Jesus’ way of saying that regardless of what we do, there are always going to be people who are going to oppose us and complain about us. And that may be part of the burden that he wants to help us carry.
Jesus calls us to come and rest… Rest is the condition God creates to allow us the opportunity to be still and know our God. We can’t touch God in the noise and busy-ness of our lives. We need the stillness and the quiet to hear the voice of God when he calls us. Jesus establishes this condition of rest for his followers and gives them examples of prayer and quiet time – times of just being with God. Prayer is allowing Jesus to take from us our burdens and to give us rest in full confidence of God’s love for us. Prayer is giving rest to the weary, refreshing and renewing their spirit for the journey.
Let us pray: Heavenly Father, we come to you, some weary in spirit, some heavy of heart, some wrestling with indecision. Lord, quiet our minds and fill our hearts that we may be still and know that you are God. And we pray that you will renew and refresh us, guide and direct us, giving us strength for facing the world and the days ahead of us. Lord, keep us always in your presence and when we stray, call us back under the shelter of your wings. We pray this in the name of your son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
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