Let’s Give Partisan Faith a Rest

Sermon by Rev. Mary Alice Mulligan, Ph.D.

Scripture: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

When we open ourselves to learning more about Jesus, we do well to keep entertaining new perspectives. The early church had handfuls of understandings of who Jesus Christ is. We can call out some of them: Jesus was prophet; teacher (rabbi); Word of God; Son of God; miracle worker; incarnation of God; Son of Man. We could name more probably. Here in the eleventh chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, the qualities of Wisdom/Sophia are manifest in Jesus, following the traits of First Testament wisdom literature, which describe a way of living leading to proper ethical conduct. A sage teaches lessons helping followers cope properly with life through self-control, honesty, diligence, and so forth. God is the source and prime possessor of wisdom. Scholars claim this passage of Matthew is in the “wisdom tradition” and follows an understanding Jesus as Sophia/holy wisdom of God. This section of Matthew displays a Wisdom Christology, using these wonderful and familiar sentences of Jesus. As you read this passage from Matthew 11, listen for the Word of God.

“But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces 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.”

This generation loves complaining. As a society, we are never satisfied. Those 2000 year old gripes still echo through society. If John the Baptizer were around today, we would criticize him, just like the ancients did, claiming he was too radical, too rigid – all those hair-shirts and eating bugs. He needed to chill out, not take everything so seriously. Meanwhile, after we get finished dressing down John, we would be just like the ancients when they turned on Jesus for not being holy enough. There he is drinking like a fish and carousing with sleaze-bags. We could talk about his lack of propriety and self-discipline for hours. Matthew says such disapprovals sound like children who are never content. They smugly claim neither John nor Jesus is much of a role model.

Of course, 2000 years adds perspective. But the ready-to-condemn attitude is still rampant among us. Think of how Republicans and Democrats attack each other. Republicans criticize Democrats as deluded, acting as if money grows on trees, and for verbally attacking the wealthy on whom the country depends. Conversely, Democrats attack Republicans for spouting lies, over-simplifying every problem, and only caring about the wealthy. Arguments in Congress are vicious and stubborn. Each party acts as if only their side has answers; at the same time, they paint their opponents as an incarnation of evil. They are so busy making sure the other side doesn’t win that no one benefits. And much of society goes right along with their partisan bickering. Here we are just a few days after the Fourth of July, when no one mentioned that true patriotism involves making sure the country actually runs in a way that benefits every person. When Jesus criticizes such bickering, he is pointing to all of us. This entire generation is hyper-critical. Then and now, society is never satisfied.

Meanwhile Jesus calls us to peace. He shows us God doesn’t want fighting. Earlier, we heard Zechariah, a scripture Jesus grew up with, describing God’s command for peace throughout the world. God’s power is moving toward the well-being of all creation, which is why Jesus puts all his energy into accomplishing God’s purposes on the earth with no attention to his own well-being.

2000 years later, we Christians still have to admit we don’t know how to accomplish world peace. We don’t have all the answers, but we have some. 1 Corinthians 13 confirms, “Now we [only] know in part.” But, as people in the United Church of Christ, we do know God’s purposes include that no one should be hungry or humiliated by poverty or exist without a meaningful way to make a decent living. But we must admit that Baptists and Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox believers know something of God’s will that we may not yet know. And when we take an even wider view of God’s presence in the world, we are called to admit that Jews and Muslims and Sikhs and Hindus and First Nations people and every other religious group in the world knows some aspect of God we may not, so we have no reason to fight with them.

As followers of Jesus, we know to reject the squabbling, divisive, often hateful behaviors between groups, because he teaches us concrete ways to move toward carrying out how God wants the world, like showing us what genuine care of neighbor looks like when he stops on the road to heal Bartimaeus from blindness; and when he shares the words of life with the Samaritan woman at the well; and when he does all in his power to feed a huge crowd of tired, hungry people. The pictures he paints with words and actions give us part of the vision through God’s eyes. God is yearning for a world where people are not fighting. Jesus calls us to peace.

So we take his yoke. When we accept Jesus’ invitation to follow him, we accept his yoke. If we pull up a mental image of a yoke, we might think of a person carrying water buckets using a carved wooden support. Right away we see the yoke does not carry the water for anyone. This isn’t “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” In fact, a person carries more water when they use a yoke.

So, what does a yoke have to do with Jesus? In the first century, a spiritual teacher’s basic message was called his or her “yoke.” Disciples quickly learned, or “took on,” a rabbi’s or teacher’s yoke. We can guess Jesus’ yoke, can’t we? Love God (because God is love and loved us first). And love the neighbor. When asked who the neighbor is, Jesus taught that whoever is needy in front of us is our neighbor. Here’s the heart of Jesus’ message. Take his yoke: love God. Love our neighbor. Jesus’ yoke, just like a wooden yoke means we do more, yet a proper yoke allows more work with less effort.

One of the important pieces of Jesus’ yoke is the communal understanding. The yoke of Jesus is a shared yoke, so it’s like oxen, yoked together, plowing a field. But for us, each believer is yoked with Christ, going where he goes, sharing his work. And in performing the shared work, we gradually acquire holy wisdom.

But we can stretch the image further, for the shared yoke not only links us with Christ; it binds us to each other. We are linked together as St. Andrew United Church of Christ. With all our different gifts, we are able to share more ministry than we could ever do alone. And besides it is more fun to be yoked together in ministry.

Then, St. Andrew, to learn more of God and to allow God to use us even more, God invites us to be yoked to others. We can connect not only with Florida Conference UCC churches, but Episcopalians and Baptists and beyond. We can get to know and learn from Buddhists and Jews and Muslims. Our yoke is from Christ, but others have yokes we can acquire wisdom from, too. We link together to carry out God’s purposes, so the whole world benefits, according to God’s purposes. As Christians, we respond to Jesus’ invitation and take his yoke.

Then we find rest in him. He calls the bone-weary to come and find a reprieve. It doesn’t make practical sense, but we find it’s true. When we are yoked with Jesus, we find rest. Although the yoke has put us all to work toward God’s vision, Jesus also calls us to times of rest. Our home, our base, can be resting in Jesus.

A Bible dictionary actually has a lengthy article on “rest,” defining one aspect of rest as “peaceful restoration.” (1) The article goes on to remind us of biblical references of rest, including God’s rest on the seventh day of creation, the Sabbath; and the torah/law requiring farmers to let the land rest every seventh year (Lev. 25); and various places where there is divine directive requiring animals and people to rest because they need times of peaceful renewal. There are biblical passages where “rest” indicates a cessation of war, resulting in restoration for the whole people, but most importantly the Bible shows a closeness to God results in rest.

Truth is, we seem to live in an age where many folks have burdens heavier than they can carry, whose souls are weary, and who are yearning for things to get just a little easier. So no wonder the invitation from Jesus for a break, is more than a dream come true. When we accept God’s unconditional embrace, it is as if we are pulled onto our best-dream-Grandmother’s lap, where we know we are completely accepted and most importantly, safe, where we can rest as long as we need, because we are loved.

The bulletin photo today shows the desperate longing for safe rest and the joy of receiving it, but equally stunning is the face of Jesus, joyously resting in the presence of the one he is holding . If we listen, Jesus’ call to “Come unto me and I will give you rest” almost takes our breath away. Like mountain climbers finally reaching the summit, we can almost feel ourselves dropping our backpacks and crashing to the ground exhausted, but we don’t hit the ground. We find ourselves held in the safest arms. “Come to me,” Jesus says, “and your deepest fatigue will be lifted. I will give you rest.”

1) “Rest,” in Harper’s Bible Dictionary, Paul Achtemeier, ed (1985), 863.