“An Easy Yoke”
“An Easy Yoke”
Matthew 11:25-30
Matthew 11:25-30
In the name of the Living God and the Risen Christ.
What burdens did you bear to into worship today? How about stress? Summer is supposed to be a time of rest and respite, but you might find your plate fuller than you expected. Or maybe you drag behind yourself the burden of sin—repeated sin, which you’ve confessed, but then committed all over again and again and again. Or again, perhaps you feel the heavy weight of human suffering—someone you know is enduring what seems unfair, untimely, and even incomprehensible, and although it hasn’t happened to you, you can’t help but feel the burden on your own emotional back.
There are burdens of the past, the present, and the future which we all bear to some degree throughout our lives. And they do indeed feel like burdens, don’t they—heavy, weighty bundles on our body, mind, or spirit that hinder us. Some of them we know and can articulate clearly; others, perhaps, we feel the full effect of them but don’t even know what they are.
Jesus calls to all those with heavy burdens, and especially to those who are weary of bearing them, and he promises rest. He calls us earnestly, repeatedly, and even today in these living words of scripture: “come unto me all you who are weary…” He calls us in power, drawing us by the authority of his voice and of who he is as the Messiah of God. He calls us to himself, and to no other, for any other voice we follow could only add more to our burdens. He calls to all, regardless of who we are, where we have come from, or how we managed to accumulate such heavy burdens in the first place. He calls to us in gentleness and humbleness, promising a deep and lasting rest for our souls.
It may seem like an inopportune literary reference for the summer heat, but you’re all familiar with Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol. (Shakespeare last week; Dickens this week. What’s next? Keep coming to church and you’ll find out!) In the fourth stave of Dickens’s Christmas Carol, the ghost of “Christmas Yet to Come” appears. You’ll remember him as the frightful wraith in the long robes who never speaks but points. “Christmas Yet to Come” shows Scrooge a conversation at Bob Cratchit’s house, after the sad death of Tiny Tim. Mrs. Cratchit and the other children observe how slowly and heavily Mr. Cratchit now walks, now that he no longer bears Tiny Tim on his shoulders. Mrs. Cratchit remarks: "I have known him walk with -- I have known him walk with Tiny Tim upon his shoulder, very fast indeed." She continues, "But he was very light to carry… and his father loved him so, that it was no trouble -- no trouble."
It is great literary irony, isn’t it? The “burden” of carrying his beloved child filled him with such joy that it was no trouble at all. And the so called “relief” or “rest” of not having Tiny Tim on his shoulders—well, this weighs Bob Cratchit down such that he walks slouched and slowly now that his son is gone.
It is also the great irony of the gospel for us. Jesus says, “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.”
The irony of the gospel here is twofold. In the first place, Jesus makes it clear that in our Christian sanctified lives, bearing burdens for his sake does not weigh us down but rather gives us relief. That is, the things we carry because we are Christians have the ironic effect of lightening our load.
For example, work and service and labor done in the name of Christ is joyful work and service and labor. It is done cheerfully, out of love to God in response to his love for us; it is done lightly, free from a sense of obligation, or guilt or compulsion. It contains within it its own reward. The things we do and even the things we suffer for the sake of the gospel contain within them a special joy precisely because they are done or endured in the name of Christ. And when we bear them, and the more we bear them, and the heavier they are, the more the sanctified Christian springs to life.
I think of the hymns of praise that arose out of the prison cell in Philippi. Remember in the book of Acts, Paul and Silas were arrested, stripped, beaten, severely flogged, and shackled. Yet this burden of persecution brought forth songs of joy because they bore these things for Christ’s sake.
Or I think of the young man who I confirmed years ago in California. He had very significant special needs, being confined to a wheelchair, with very little physical movement possible. And yet his beaming presence and positive spirit and simple faith seemed to lighten everyone’s load when he came to church. I tell you: He was no burden to push around in that wheelchair.
Or you might think of some of the retired folks at First Saint Paul’s, who, in spite of the many health challenges of aging bodies, continue to give and serve and help and befriend. Yes, the burdens we bear as Christians are like that of Bob Cratchit: carrying his son on his shoulders brought a bounce to his step—no trouble, at all, really.
The other part of the great irony in what Jesus says here in Matthew 11 gets right at the heart of the gospel for us. It is the great truth of Scripture that Jesus bore on his back and in his body the sins of the whole world. He suffered for us the complete penalty for all that we have done. He carried to Golgotha and even into hell and back every ounce of every burden of sin and guilt and shame.
You would think this would weigh him down. You would think it would crush him. But on Easter Sunday he came forth from the grave freely, joyfully, powerfully, because his love for us outweighed the worst burdens of humanity placed on him. His love made bearing our burdens light.
Jesus gives such a simple, clear gospel message for all of us burden-bearers today: “Give them to me. My shoulders are broad enough, my love strong enough, my wounds deep enough for anything you carry. I will offer you a wondrous exchange: you give me that pile of sin and shame which weighs you down; you place upon me all the hurtful things which your past has made you to be. And in exchange I will give you a yoke of a different kind: I will give you freedom, forgiveness, grace, love, relief, help, and healing. Here is my light ‘yoke’, my easy ‘burden’, offered freely to all who hear my voice.”
Let us come unto Jesus, today, and in him find rest for our souls.
Come soon, Lord Jesus. Amen.