Proper 9A; Rom. 7:15-25a; Matt. 11:16-19,
25-30
St. Paul’s Smithfield, NC - 7/5/2020
Jim Melnyk: “Lined With Love”
I grew up hearing a
portion of today’s Gospel lesson from Matthew every time we celebrated Holy
Eucharist in my home church. Each time we celebrated Holy Eucharist together I
heard our priest recite what have been called “The Comfortable Words.” At each
celebration the priest would say, “Hear what comfortable words our Savior Christ
saith unto all who truly turn to him. ‘Come unto me, all ye that travail and
are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.’” Comfortable words indeed, even if a
bit confusing in their Matthean context.
“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.”
“I will give you
rest…” sounds refreshing and peaceful, doesn’t it? The promise can be confusing
because in the end the rest promised by Jesus isn’t what we commonly think of
as rest. It’s not a call to idleness or inaction – it’s not a “sit back in the
Lazy Boy recliner with the game on sort of rest.” Rather, it’s actually a call
that includes a yoke and a burden on our part. We call them “comforting words”
forgetting the deeper meaning of the word “comfort,” which means to strengthen.
These words of Jesus were challenging at best, for his promise of rest is
actually a promise of strength in the midst of a call to service.
In the previous
chapter of Matthew’s gospel Jesus and his disciples didn’t get into trouble for
proclaiming a religion of rigidity, or for acting as gatekeepers for God. Rather,
they got in trouble – brought into the mix a sword of division – by proclaiming
Good News to the poor and the outcast – and for welcoming all into relationship
with God. Jesus is actually responding to angry challenges over his
proclamation of good news – his proclamation of a kingdom that stands up for
those who are perceived by some to be – and are treated by some as – the least
among us. "Come unto me all who are heavily burdened with life and I will
refresh you. Take the yoke of my Good News upon you and I will give you rest.” “No
questions are asked [by Jesus.] No restrictions are laid down – except that [one]
be weary and heavy laden. [And] all that is required to receive the invitation
is a desire to lay [one’s] burden down.[1]”
How in the world, we
ask, can service be rest? Aren’t the two opposites of each other? To the first
century Jew service was rest. The two were not mutually exclusive of one another. As
our Collect for Peace in Morning Prayer reads, “whose service is perfect
freedom.[2]”
Rabbis in Jesus’ day
spoke of the “yoke of the Law” as a glorious obedience to God which frees
humanity from artificial human burdens, and gives both “rest” and “peace of
mind.” Torah is not a burden placed upon humanity, but a loving, joyous response
to a God who first calls Israel into a covenantal relationship. Israel is called
to keep Torah Teaching as a response of thanksgiving for the saving acts of a
loving God.
But we see in
history a gradual institutional shift (isn’t there always an institutional
shift somewhere?) – a gradual shift where obedience to the commandments of God
became more of a legalistic proof texting of one’s faith and one’s faithfulness
to the Institution, and less an act of thankful response to God. That’ a human
response characteristic of us no matter what our faith tradition. Christians
constantly fall into the same mess. How many times have we heard Christian
preachers talk about unconditional love in one breath, and then in the next
breath lay out the rules that must be kept to avoid our going to hell? The yoke
of our covenantal relationship with God, which is meant to be a glorious
obedience, can become a yoke of slavery for any of us.
It is in this
setting that Jesus speaks to the crowd. For those listening, the words of Jesus
cause no confusion, but rather recall their commitment to their covenantal
relationship with the Divine. Rest will come not through inactivity, but
through the peace that comes from living in a right relationship with God. Rest
will come when the Law is understood as loving response rather than religious
requirement – and that’s their challenge – and is still a challenge to any who
use religion to control or hold power over others – no matter what faith
tradition.
In Matthew’s account
of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus continually upholds and honors Torah. His teachings
always call for compassion and understanding – for unselfish love and caring. As
long as these things hold true, there can be joy and peace in serving. It’s
when caring is centered on one’s own wants rather than the good of the one who
is in need that service begins to feel like a burden to be despised and feared.
Somewhere along the
line those who stand in opposition to Jesus lose their understanding of
faithful response to God. It isn’t anything new. Israel had yoked themselves to
the gods of Egypt, and later Canaan. Leaders made tribute to foreign kings and
trusted in political alliances rather than the God who brought them out of
Egypt to a new land. Many made a comfortable home in Babylon during the exile. We
listen to the stories and say to ourselves, “At least we’ve never been like
that. At least we’ve never rejected the yoke of God for the yoke of slavery.”
But inside we know –
inside we know that time and time again we turn from a God who promises rest
and try to find our rest the easy way. Rest without service – rest without
action. We fight to fill our time with a multitude of ways to relax, never
finding true relaxation. Inside we feel a need to be yoked to something –
something that gives us direction – something that gives us purpose in life –
something that gives us rest.
Unfortunately it’s
the yoke of slavery that is always the most alluring – that always seems to
make more sense – and we often end up taking the easiest path to the most
immediate experience of instant gratification. The couch is more comfortable
than a prayer vigil. TV is more alluring than a march for justice. Thinking all
lives matter is less challenging than Black Lives constantly under violent
siege. Sipping a cold drink is more inviting than breathing in tear gas. It’s
rarely a conscious decision, but it’s so darn alluring. As Paul reminds us
today, “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.” We wrestle daily with “things
done and things left undone.” And we each have different masters to whom we
yoke ourselves.
Instead, Jesus calls
upon each of us to take his yoke upon ourselves. In bearing that yoke he
promises us two things: a burden and rest. The burden is in being a caring,
compassionate people who look to the needs of others rather than always
focusing on our own wants. It’s not about taking care of people. Rather it’s about
changing systems that foster oppression and separation, and changing hearts of
those who embrace such systems of domination or greed – it’s proclaiming Good
News to a broken world – a world that doesn’t always welcome Good News in any
form. It’s a burden that becomes light when we work together as the Body of
Christ gathered, carrying out our Baptismal Covenant in thanksgiving for God’s
great love.
The rest, “which is
not mere ease, but a synonym for salvation,[3]” is
the joy that comes from willful service in response to the saving work of Jesus
on the Cross – our faithful response to the love of God made known to us in
Christ Jesus. One commentator suggests that the rest that Jesus speaks to is
the true Sabbath rest offered by God since the beginning of time.
The yoke we take
upon ourselves also includes learning something of the Dream of God for
humanity. It means embracing those who like Jesus are gentle and humble in
heart, or those who like Jesus in his day are shunned and feared by much of
society. It means saying to all whom we meet, “You are worthy of love. You are
worthy of God’s love.” And those are powerful words – especially when spoken to
someone living on the fringe of society. They are hollow words if we don’t live
the kind of life that backs them up. As we take the yoke of Christ upon us,
living into our Baptismal promises – we become Christ for one another – we
become the face of Christ for the world. Commentator “Matthew Henry maintained
that the yoke of Christ was easy because it was ‘lined with love.”[4]
We have a promise
from Jesus that offers us peace and a challenge: “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.”
[1] Synthesis Commentary
[2] BCP, 99
[3] M. Eugene Boring, The New
Interpreter’s Bible, vol VIII
[4] Synthesis Commentary
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