Get Yoked up with Jesus

This is the sermon that I offered up during Morning Prayer and Eucharist on July 5, 2020 for St. John's Episcopal Church in Dubuque, Iowa. The Morning Prayer service was held via the zoom platform in the morning and an in-person Eucharist service in the afternoon. The in-person service followed protocols for lessening the spread of COVID-19 such as no singing and the wearing of masks. The scripture readings were Zechariah 9:9-12, Psalm 145:8-15, Romans 7:15-25a, and Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30.

O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and loving our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another in love as Jesus taught.  In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

When I was a boy, maybe about seven years old, I was introduced to the responsibility of my own chores. We had a couple small sheds behind our hog house where runts or injured pigs were put when they couldn’t be in with the large group of hogs. My job was to make sure these pigs had feed, water, and bedding. But there was a problem. I wasn’t tall enough to carry the five gallon buckets of water and feed without the pails dragging on the ground and spilling the feed and water.  My dad had a solution, digging up a yoke from who knows where.  Imagine a four foot long board that basically was a 2x6 with a half circle for the neck. A rope was tied to each side and the weight of the buckets was redistributed so I could better do my chores.

This was a single yoke, fitting I suppose for the individual who does things on their own. You are doing all the work. Sounds a little bit like American individualism, doesn't it?  Or maybe not. I was working for the family farm, our family business.  My dad found the contraption.  My mom washed it up and made certain that I didn't carry loads that were too heavy.  It was a team effort, for the good of all.

Like it or not, we all have to carry a yoke in our daily lives.

Some of us carry the yoke of mammon, of money, working for the almighty dollar at the expense of our health and our relationships.

Others yoke themselves to the belief in themself. You know, pulling themselves up by their bootstraps and toiling away and deserving everything they get, even if it comes at the expense of other people.

Still others carry the yoke of superiority and the dream of American exceptionalism, with the belief that their experience as a United States citizen translates into justice for all.  

None of these yokes are what Jesus wants for us.

Jesus is all about team effort.  It’s a damaging illusion to work for self, to consider our needs above all others.  Jesus has harsh words today for those who expect to be rewarded for their own labors and talents. We see a collection of whining and griping where people don't get their fair due in the first part of the Gospel today, and Jesus isn’t having any of it. Such efforts, self-serving and vain, are not what he is looking for. 

When Jesus asks us to take on his yoke, then, it requires us to think in terms that are unfamiliar to us today but would have been obvious to the culture of his people.  He’s asking us to fasten ourselves willingly to him.  He’s asking us to join in the important work, and to lean on one another.

The yoke Christ is speaking of is one of wisdom and understanding.  It is not a single yoke, but a double one, like a yoke of oxen, that connects us to Jesus intentionally.  In our individualistic culture, that’s much harder to agree with.

What yoke are you willing to put on?

What yoke are you willing to tie yourself up with Jesus?

Work produces weariness as we toil daily. On a scale of 1 to 10, how weary are you? A ten might be the numbing pain of a frontline worker who has lost multiple patients or relatives to Covid19. It might be a parent who has lost a child to gun violence. A one might be an annoyance, when the air conditioning in the car quits or you burn supper.

Since most of us aren’t working by heavy labor or picking vegetables in a field, our weariness is largely emotional.  Watching the news can exhaust us, and worries about paying the light bill or having enough to eat are real concerns right now in the American life.

There's a solution to weariness.  It’s a gift we are given today.  

But there’s a catch.  

I don’t get to do this alone.

You don’t get to do this alone.

We don’t get to do this alone.  

Can you say with me?  I don’t get to do this alone. 

I don’t get to do this alone.

Jesus binds himself to us when we willingly bind ourselves to him. Jesus lessens our weariness by giving us wisdom and understanding.  Jesus helps us pick the right work to do. 

It may be a work of solidarity, as we saw painted on the side of the Five Flags Center this week.

It may be a work of comfort, as Jesus is there in our grief and distress.

It may be a work of bravery, as we see in the essential workers who have been keeping this country running.

Binding yourself to Jesus means connecting yourself to the wisdom we find in worship and in this community. Our burden will be lightened because we are not alone.

Our church is yoked with Jesus when we partner with St. Mark Youth Enrichment and provide a place for students to come and be safe in the summer.

Our congregation is yoked with Jesus when we work with the Dubuque food pantry to help those who have food insecurity.

Our community becomes the hands and feet of Jesus as we work to live our Rule of Life and make a difference in our daily activities.

Our world is yoked with those who work to tear down the pillars of injustice and systemic racism. 

In choosing a yoke with Jesus willingly, instead of carrying our own load all by ourselves all of the time, we have a partner in the journey who can give us rest and to whom we can talk when the work is hard. 

Bring Jesus into your life.  Bring Jesus into our life together.  

When we do this we will accept the challenge in today’s Gospel. 

Amen.