Two Aprils ago, I had possibly one of the craziest weeks thus far of my ministry. Easter was early in 2013, and we had just celebrated the full emotions of Holy Week and the joy of Easter. Like many clergy, I had hoped to take off the Monday following Easter and recuperate after a full and emotional season. However, the timing was not right. In the space of the next ten days, the congregation and my family experienced three deaths and celebrated one wedding. Kind of like the 1994 movie, Four Weddings and a Funeral – except it was three funerals and a wedding and in the course of ten days.
And the second funeral was my uncle, my mother’s brother, who had moved out to Montana, just a few years prior. Anticipating a wedding and a funeral when I returned, I boarded a plane with my mother to help my family remember my uncle. On this short weekend of taking care of arrangements and many emotions, I was given a gift smack dab in the middle of the trip. My cousin, my uncle’s son, took me and my mom to Glacier National Park, not far from my uncle’s home, a place he enjoyed. In the beginning of April, snow was still on the ground in the mountains and the upper passes of the mountain were yet closed off to visitors. But the beauty of the place shone through. The stillness of the mountains was deafening. In some moments by myself, I found myself pondering these words that came to me– My yoke is easy and my burden in light. The image you see with the gospel lesson is a picture I took at Glacier.
Those words are from the gospel lesson that you heard just a few moments ago that Jesus spoke to his disciples. This invitation from Jesus is unique to the gospel of Matthew. Jesus spoke these words to the disciples between critiquing the seemingly wise of the day and offering his own critique of current Sabbath practices. These words have been used to invite overworked and weary persons to times of rest and recuperation. And I think there is room for that. After this passage, Jesus will discuss the Sabbath. Sabbath is the concept that in the midst of our weeks we take a day to rest, not because all of our work is completed, but because our health and well-being requires us to pause. God demonstrated Sabbath on the seventh day, when after creation, God rested. Sabbath is for family, for relationship, for health – mental, physical and spiritual health. To rest from our daily labors – paid and unpaid labors. I value Sabbath deeply and believe this spiritual practice is essential to our spiritual health.
Jesus’ call to the disciples of two thousand years ago and Jesus’ call to the disciples of today is the same.
All of you who feel as though you must carry the world upon your shoulders.
All who feel as though you are responsible for the details of world peace and your family’s choices.
All of you who feel as though you must carry worry and fear as proof of your love and concern f or others.
All of you who feel as though you are not doing your job as a parent, a spouse, a sibling, a friend unless you fret about the very being of your loved one.
All of you who try to follow the letter of the law, instead of the loving spirit of the law.
All of you … All of us.
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.
It is the mention of the yoke that leads me to think that this passage is not just about rest-filled Sabbaths, but it is also a life of rest-filled faith. Here is one example of a yoke, for those of us who do not use yokes every day. The concept of a yoke involves two animals together sharing the load. Our translator indicates that Jesus’ yoke is easy. An even better translation is loving kindness. A ‘kind’ yoke is one which is correctly shaped, that doesn’t chafe or rub, that allows the load to be carried evenly. My understanding is that the farmer does not put a yoke on the animals unless it is time to work. This is a bit different from the rest and relaxation; you might previously associate with this passage. Rest, in this sense, does not mean inactivity. Rest is a shared load.
Yokes, like this one, achieve incredible feats. It is not merely that two oxen can do more than one; the volume is exponential. For example, for Clydesdale horses, you know the kind of horses that find themselves in commercials. A single Clydesdale horse can pull a load of approximately 7000 pounds. You might think that two Clydesdales can pull somewhere in the neighborhood of 14,000 pounds together. But, if you yoke two Clydesdale horses, they can pull a load of approximately 25,000 pounds! Incredible!
You may also notice in this image that the oxen shown are not the same size and strength. Yokes are used to share the load and to teach a younger, less experienced animal how to do the work. In this case, I understand the larger, more experienced animal shows the work by example. When you and I accept Christ’s invitation to a yoke of loving kindness and a burden that is light, we invite Jesus to walk alongside and teach us by example how to live in this place, how to care for God’s people, and how to love God’s world.
Jesus’ call is clear: you who are content and satisfied will find little of value here. If you have already decided to carry the weight of the world on your own shoulders or figured out how to relate to people, you will not find rest here.
But you who are weary, will find rest in the shared yoke.
You who feel accused – whether by others or yourself – will find forgiveness by Christ who offers himself.
You who feel abandoned, will find fellowship in presence of God’s Spirit.
You who feel disappointed, will find relief in God who is dependable.
You who feel hurt, will find healing from the Great Healer.
And you who feel misunderstood will be known, loved, and accepted for whom you are, in the name of Jesus Christ.
That day in Glacier National Park, I did not magically have less to do when I exited the park. When we climbed down, I still had two funerals and a wedding facing me down in the next 6 days in addition to the standard set of tasks from my family and my congregation. I did not proceed immediately to a warm tropical place with a soft hammock and a cool drink. However, I did feel the weight in my soul shift. I did feel my heart lightened. I did feel, again, God’s presence with me as I continued my daily tasks. My prayer for you this morning is just that. For each of us, as we serve God, may we know a rest-filled faith in which the yoke of serving with Christ is loving kindness and the burden is easy.
For this is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, thanks be to God, Amen.
Interpretation, Matthew, 129.
http://revgalblogpals.org/2014/07/04/11th-hour-preacher-party-hot-enough-for-you-edition/.