July 3, 2011 - "Nothing Like a Good Yoke"

Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Let’s take a look at Galilee, where these words were said

Where Jesus lives and works.

After Jesus is born in Bethlehem, his family returns to Nazareth, their hometown in Galilee, and in Galilee, Jesus grows up.

His disciples are from Galilee.

He spends most of his time preaching there.

It’s to the people in Galilee that Jesus proclaims the Kingdom of God.

The people Jesus knows so well, and to them, he extends this greatest of invitations, Come to me … and I will give rest.

Galilee is in the middle of everything.

Travelers and goods moving up out of North Africa or coming in from the East, on their way to Rome, pass through Galilee.

Merchants and soldiers and politicians and teachers from Europe, Rome and Greece, on their way to Egypt, or to the East, pass through Galilee.

All roads lead to Rome and back again.

Galilee the Bread Basket of the Middle East.

Rich in agricultural resources.

A summer retreat for the wealthy.

Kings and queens and emperors frequent visitors.

Multi-cultural, multi-lingual … wealth and poverty … small towns and big cities, agriculture and fishing, itinerant  preachers and teachers for all kinds of philosophies and religions:

Cynicism

Hedonism

Eclecticism

Neo-Platonism

Skepticism

Stoicism

Sophism

Judaism, as well, had all kinds of competing schools of thought – Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes and Zealots, just to mention a few … sort of like Protestant denominations: Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals and Presbyterians, with lots of variations in every group.

Jesus speaks to people who are bombarded every day with endless options.

And the people are weary.

Jaded.

Hard to please.

Jesus quotes a proverb to describe them:

We play the flute, and no one dances.

We lament, and no one mourns.[1]

The people were saturated with the world.

Everything at their fingertips.

Sort of like our world today!

24/7, we’re told how to keep our hair beautiful, our teeth white, our waist slim, and have a fabulous love-life.

Politicians tell us they can do better than anyone else.

TV preachers offer wealth, health and happiness.

Financial gurus tell us how to beat the odds and grow rich.

Drugs to cure all of our problems – “check with your physician to see if our drug is right for you, and if it is, we’ll give you a month’s free supply.”

Then the fine print in the ad or the quick-reading voice on TV: “this drug has been known to turn your hair purple, cause delusions, increase appetite, shorten your left leg, cross your eyes, keep you awake at night, make you drowsy during the day, give you depression, suicidal thoughts, and generally make you a horrible driver.”

The self-help section of a bookstore – how many books can there be all promising us the moon? – five easy steps to wealth and happiness … six secrets to love and success … seven steps to personal power … eight ways to build a strong marriage … nine insights that will make you rich … 10 rules to overcome anxiety and depression.

Like walking through a carnival midway … barkers on every side, doing their song and dance – wanting to separate us from our money, promising thrills and chills and a chance to “win a big stuffed dog for your girlfriend.”

We’re bombarded morning, noon and night.

Young parents are a big target for merchandising:

Guilt-inducing ads about child-rearing, early-learning, potty training; getting your child ready for college, proper motivation, choosing their career, managing their moods, eating-habits, sleep patterns … sibling rivalry … tooth decay, self-confidence … IQ development … and all the dangers that supposedly surround childhood, until parents want to shrink-wrap their children and keep them inside 24/7.

TV, radio, magazines and the internet.

Political campaigns.

Health shows and medical infomercials.

Parenting books and conferences.

It’s tough to find our way through all of it.

And all of it plays upon our fears.

We’re afraid of missing out on something.

Not having enough.

Making the wrong choice.

Premature aging and wrinkles.

We’re fearful of many things.

And religion doesn’t always help.

Hell-fire preachers and brimstone peddlers.

Punishment.

Law.

Exclusion.

Judgment.

The kind of religion that fills a child’s mind with fearful images of fire and pain.

A friend of mine grew up in Oklahoma, not just the Bible Belt, but the Buckle of the Bible Belt … tells of a time when communion was served … he took the little cup and poured the juice into his mouth, but didn’t swallow it.

Held it in his mouth until worship was over.

Ran outside and spit it out.

He was afraid of “drinking unworthily” unto his own damnation and going to hell.

Another friend tells of hiding under the pews, hoping that God couldn’t find him, so afraid was he of God.

Fear squeezes out our courage … we stop thinking, we no longer ask questions, or admit our personal doubts - hoping against hope that God never finds out what’s truly in our hearts and minds.

We can’t let our neighbor know.

And we’ll never tell the preacher … who might just tell us that we’re gonna go to hell if we don’t shape up and get right with God!

Fundamentalist hell-fire preaching in America has had a terrible influence on how people think about God and how they live their lives.

Jesus offers a radical invitation.

Come to me!

Take my yoke upon you.

Learn from me.

The invitation of a rabbi.

To become his student – that’s what disciple means.

To follow this outstanding rabbi, and learn from him.

In Galilee, to be invited by a rabbi to join him was a high compliment … young men yearned to find an important rabbi and learn from them … and women, too – look at Mary at the feet of Jesus; code language for a disciple.

When the rabbi teaches, he’s giving his yoke to the student.

Jesus says: For I am gentle and humble in heart.

In other words:

I’ll not hurt you.

I’ll not ask of you anything more than I ask of myself.

Because I came to this world not to be served, but to serve.[2]

And then, the promise, the promise of rest.

After a long hard day of work, it’s great to get home, kick off the shoes, put up our feet, get a drink, sit back and relax … and rest!

It is with good reason that God rests after creation.

Makes the day holy … commands a day of rest for all of creation.

But with Jesus, something special.

Not a day.

Not a ritual.

But a relationship … in him, we find our rest!

I will give you rest, says Jesus.

When we’re well-rested, we think better.

Our world looks better, even the boss.

Well-rested, we can more easily figure out the difference between the trash and the treasure.

Well-rested, we make better choices!

Does Jesus tell us what investments to make?

Or what video games our children should play?

Or where we should vacation?

Of course not.

He offers us something deep and powerful.

An organizing principle.

A center-point.

So that we can be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

So that we can be courageous:

Courageous to love and welcome.

Courageous to open wide the widows of the soul.

Courageous to get up in the morning and make the sign of the cross over our life: In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – this is who we are!

And to Christ we belong!

What a gift to give to our families: our centeredness in Christ.

And these days, where we’re bombarded every minute of the day with medical ads … in Christ,  do the best we can, of course; take care of ourselves; be responsible … but in Christ, come to grips with our mortality – that’s the real issue here – mortality; the world is frightened of death – from ancient Egyptians and their pyramids to our endless quest for youth and beauty, we’re driven by a giant fear, the fear of our mortality.

The truth be told: we grow old, strength ebbs, and one day, dear friends, “when the roll is called up yonder,” we’ll close our eyes one last time, draw our final breath, and life will be no more.

Yet in Christ, rest.

Through Christ, courage.

With Christ, peace.

We’re at peace with death, because we have peace with God.[3]

God is the LORD of life AND the LORD of death … we neither live unto ourselves nor die unto ourselves, but unto the LORD Jesus Christ.[4]

We have a gift for you today … a card to carry with you - put it in your Bible, stick it on your refrigerator … and share with a friend.

If you want more of these cards, let us know … we’ll have more next week … after worship today, come up to the LORD's Table to get a card or two.

Dear Christian Friends, Jesus your rabbi.

Let his words enter deep into your heart and mind:

Come to me all you that are weary and overburdened and I will give you rest … take my yoke upon you … learn from me … I am gentle and humble … my burden is light, and my yoke is easy.

Amen and Amen!

---

[1] John 11.17.

[2] Matthew 20.28.

[3] Romans 5.1.

[4] Romans 14.7-9

Model

Matthew 20:20-28

I’ve been blessed with good role models.
Family … church and school.

My father died when I was 22, but he left me some good memories.

My mother, a troubled person, nonetheless gave me a sense of humor and a passion for reading.

I had a favorite uncle who was always kind … and a favorite aunt who always made me feel ten feet tall.

After my father died, I grew close to Donna’s parents – they were great!

I remember good pastors … men (and it was only men, then) who preached with conviction and content … and a 3rd grade Sunday School teacher named Bert … I think his brother was named Ernie.

Going to a Christian high school, I had some terrific teachers who modeled a life of faith and learning … and those models were reinforced at Calvin College.

Don Wilson, an anthropology professor, opened my eyes to other cultures, and the cultural mistakes made too often by the church.

Roger Rice, a sociology professor, made it possible for me to shed my prejudice.

Wallace Bratt, a Bible professor, welded together faith and science.

Then on to seminary – professors who modeled intelligence and faith.

Lester Kuyper, my Hebrew professor – we called him the student – he’d bounce into the classroom all a-smile, to tell us all about his latest discovery … I’ll never forget one occasion: as he had on hundreds of similar mornings, he was reading and studying the Hebrew Bible, when he solved a 20-year old translation problem.

My own wife: to her I owe a debt of gratitude – she has modeled for me everything good and kind … a wife of endurance and forgiveness … a mother of much love and devotion.

All along my way, God has provided a wealth of role models … ordinary people who lived ordinary lives with faith, hope and love.

I’ve have never lived this life on my own … but have been surrounded by a cloud of witnesses pointing the way to Jesus.

And even now my own children demonstrate wisdom and courage, faithfulness and kindness … I have learned the joy of listening to my children – their take on things, the books they read and the views they hold.

A cloud of witnesses on every side …

God be praised for everyone of them …

We all have our own role models, don’t we?

Women and men who influenced us, told us good stories; fired our imagination; believed in us – pastors, teachers, youth directors, Sunday School teachers, choir directors, college professors, counselors, and the list goes on.

But most of all … at the center of our stories … Jesus!
In His light, we see light.
He is the image of the invisible God … He is the head of the body … He’s the vine and we are the branches … He’s the Alpha and the Omega … He’s the Bread of Heaven and the Living water.
Karl Barth says: “Everything that deserves to be called knowledge in the Christian sense lives from the knowledge of Jesus Christ” (Dogmatics in Outline, p. 67).

Through Jesus and His story, we learn our story.

Let’s take a look at a delightful story from Matthew 20:20-28 – read text here …

Mom goes to bat for her boys … and boys they were – likely in their late teens, early twenties at the most – their Mom goes to bat for them.

Ever done that for one of your children?
Go the soccer coach and suggest that your daughter should have made first string?
Go to the teacher and defend your son’s behavior?
Go to a neighbor whose son beat up your boy?
Or that catty little girl down the street who lied about your daughter?

It’s called a parent’s heart – there’s nothing more devoted or more determined … nothing more ferocious if a child has been harmed, or in some way slighted.

I have a parent’s heart, and you do, too.
Let something happen, or not happen, and we’re prepared to move heaven and earth for the sake of our children.

Mama went to bat for her boys!

She believed that Jesus was going to be something … and when he made it big, she wanted her boys to be there.

She asks with great politeness … she kneels before Jesus and puts her case – when the time comes, I want my two boys to be at your side.

Do ya’ think Mama came up with this all by herself?
Or did the boys prompt her?

Did James or John say, Mama, can ya’ put in a good word for us?

And what’s a Mama to do?

But things get a little dicey right now … Jesus sees ahead alright, to what’s going to be … neither fame nor fortune; He’s not going to be voted “most likely to succeed” – no, it’s a hard road He sees… the road to Calvary and the Cross.

When the other disciples hear about it, they’re furious.
They’d been trumped.
Do ya’ think they wanted to ask the same favor?
A little competition here?
A little jealousy?

“How come my name didn’t get into the bulletin?”
“Edna gets the award, but I worked just as hard as she did!”
“Why did they ask Jim to be an elder instead of me?”

We all feel these things, don’t we?

Preachers do, too.

“Rev. Hairdo down the street has the big church, but I’m just as good.”
“I could write a book, too, if I wanted.”
“I should have been asked to be the chairperson.”
“How come she gets all the notice, and no one notices me?”

This remarkable moment: two clear examples of human nature on the darker side … grasping for position, and angry when we’ve been bested by someone else.

Yes, it’s a portrait of humanity … a portrait of you and me.

Well, at least you! Ha!

Jesus uses this as a teaching moment … to say something to these good women and men who mean so much to Him … how He loves them … but they’re eyes are clouded by dreams of fame, their hearts disturbed by jealousy.

Yup, it’s not always a pretty picture.

I’m reminded of the poet, Robert Burns …

Burns is in church one Sunday
Behind a lovely young lady
Hair all done up
Beautiful bonnet of ribbons and bows
And there upon her hat,
Crawls a louse.

Burns ends his poem:

O would some Power the gift to give us
To see ourselves as others see us!

The Bible mirrors our humanity …
God’s gift … to see ourselves … not always a pretty picture … but a necessary step to move on …
Read the Bible … it’s an honest piece of work.
Genesis has more dysfunctional families then Dr. Phil.
Scheming brothers …
Lustful maidens …
Boastful men …
Violence and villainy .
In the remarkable Tony Randall film, Seven Faces of Dr. Lao (1964), there’s a remarkable moment when someone says to the bad guy, “Who wants to lose?”
The bad guy says, “I do. Every time I bet on weakness, corruption, fallibility, I want to lose. But I always win.”

A bit later, he tells the “good guy:”
“I used to be just like you, a long time ago.”
“I believed in the dignity of man, decency, humanity. But I was lucky. I found out the truth early. It’s all very simple. There’s no such thing as the dignity of man. Man is a base, pathetic, vulgar animal.”
Well, the truth be told, we’re not always a pretty picture, are we?

O would some power gift to give us
To see ourselves as others see us.

Am I not like these disciples?
Their Mama?

Is this not my story?
Your story?

Of course it is.

O would some power gift to give us
To see ourselves as others see us.

But if jaded characters see only the worst …
God sees something else.

Jesus sees the original design …
Jesus reveals a counter-portrait …
Alternative image …
Something better …

To those disciples who wanted to sit on top of the heap, Jesus says:

You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them … not so for you!

Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant.
Whoever wishes to be first must be your slave.

How does that sound?
That’s a counter-portrait if I’ve ever heard one.
Runs against the grain doesn’t it?
Like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

The next story provides a counterpoint in action:
Jesus and the disciples on their way out of Jericho meet two blind men by the road … they cry for mercy, and Jesus asks, What do you want me to do for you?

His question is all the more poignant for what just happened.
James and John ask for position and privilege.

What will the two blind men ask for?

LORD, let our eyes be opened!”

Jesus is moved with compassion, says the text; He touches their eyes, and immediately they regain their sight and follow Him.

They’re blind but now they see.
James and John are blind, too … their blindness is harder to cure.

O would some power gift to give us
To see ourselves as others see us.

To see ourselves, yes, as we often are …
And to see ourselves for something better.

To let Jesus be our model.
To spend time with Him.
To get acquainted with Him.
To let His grace make us gracious.
His mercy, merciful.
His kindness, kindly.
His love, loving.

To be like Jesus … hmmm … sounds like a tall order, doesn’t it?

But this is what God is working for in our life.
To conform us to the image of His Son … in order that He might be the firstborn within a large family … (Romans 8:29).

That folks could look at us and say, “You look just like your older brother. You sort of walk like Him, talk like Him, and carry on like Him.”

Now let’s be clear.
Jesus is no wallflower.
His passion puts Him front and center.
His goal is the glory of God.
And that means challenging the powers that be.
It means breaking all sorts of conventions and violating all sorts of laws.

Jesus never takes a backseat when it comes to setting things right.

He takes profound chances for the welfare of others.

That’s the role model Jesus sets before us.
What it could be like when human beings discover their true potential for greatness …
Not the greatness of the world – but the greatness of God’s kingdom.

Who are your role models?

I’m grateful for those who have modeled the Christian life.
I’m grateful most of all for Jesus my LORD.

Amen!