Sermon for the 9th of July - Fifth Sunday after Trinity

Romans 7: 15–25a
I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. 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. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.

Matthew 11:16–19, 25–30
‘But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market- places and calling to one another, “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.” 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!” Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.’ At that time Jesus said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. ‘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 was a challenge to choose, this morning, which part of the readings, set for today, to talk about. There are four or five different sayings that just don't "hang together." Both Matthew and Luke put together sayings of Jesus that had circulated in the Jesus community, but they then put them together in different ways. And the theme of Romans doesn't seem to "go with" the others. So I will choose just one to talk about, especially with 7-year-olds in the congregation today! I hope you have noticed the illustration on the cover of the order of worship that you are holding in your hands. It shows two men in olden times trying to plow a field to plant crops. One holds the plow; the other one seems to be prodding the two oxen to go forward with a sharp stick, and they seem to be resisting: they both look unhappy, as they are wearing a yoke.

This word, "yoke," we don't use so much anymore. But it means something that forces you to stay in a position you don't want to be in, making you go forward in a direction you don't want to go. It is like these oxen, who are powerful and strong, but when they have a yoke put upon them they have no choice---they are fixed and fashioned. A yoke is a burden laid upon you that holds you and doesn't let you go.

If you are seven, I am not sure that a yoke means anything, or that a burden means anything. It is only adults, I think, who have become aware of what a yoke and a burden mean. It is not really about physically carrying a heavy load. When you grow older you findyourself in all kinds of situations where you are bound to do something you don't want to do, forced to go in a direction you don't want to go. And some of these situations last for a long time.So what was Jesus talking about when he said: 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? What is Jesus's yoke? I have been thinking about this. Perhaps it is a commitment, something we choose to be bound to. Now if you make a promise, a commitment, to do something, you really do have to follow through with it. It is not something that you decide on a whim, with a snap of the fingers, to do. It is something that stays with you, that affects everything else, that means something.

I can think of some examples. You might have made a promise to your mother to treat your younger brother with kindness and care. Not to tease him or torment him, but to include him and share with him things you might rather keep to yourself. Now this is a promise that doesn't expire at the end of the day, but that really needs to continue day after day, week after week. Until it becomes part of you, shaping how you act. And it will spill over into the way you treat others, as well, your friends. Now you could think of this as something that weighs you down, but it is actually a commitment that Jesus would want you to make. It is a choice you make, to show love.

Because Jesus was all about loving others, as much as you love yourself. God works in the world through us, and through the loving commitments we choose to make to others. Life is not supposed to be full of worry and care; God wants us to be free to love and be loved, and to be like Jesus, who cared, always, for others. If we trust that the world is God's, and that when we feel overwhelmed by the things that seem to go wrong, the burden is ultimately God's to bear, we can understand what this yoke is that Jesus talks about.

Jesus wanted to take over from us what we could not bear for ourselves. Faith, hope, and love--these shine out in the Christian faith that we embrace.
They make up Jesus's yoke. If we make a commitment to him, we bind ourselves to practice faith, hope, and love, in our daily lives. Day by day, week by week, year by year. It is a yoke that will lead us to a place where joy and peace reside. It becomes an easy yoke, as we take it on willingly, and it grows to be a light burden, as in trust we give it over to the Christ who accompanies us along the way.
Amen