"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." - Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
I carried a heavy back pack all through school. Even in Elementary school I filled my backpack with papers and pens and kitchen sinks. My high school, I traveled to school with a backpack that could have traveled across europe. Filled with 7 textbooks and everything else I might need for the day, it weighed more than most of my classmates.
A few decades ago, it was rare for a person under the age of forty to complain of a sore back. In the 80s, doctors began hearing more and more complaints of chronic back pain coming from children. It was a new phenomena. Young adults had perfectly healthy backs, but their children or younger brothers and sisters were complaining of chronic back pain.
An entire generation of children grew up wearing backpacks. At first they were cute and fun - with favorite cartoon characters and bright colors. But, by middle school, children are carrying several pounds pounds more than they should be.
In a novel move for the heavy burdened, the Florida legislature just passed a law last month which will remove textbooks from their schools. Only e-books will be purchased for students. Instead of a backpack weighing almost as much as the students - everyone will be assigned an e-reader weighing less than two pounds.
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It's a heavy burden to be a pastor. It's a heavy burden to write the first sermon that your congregation will hear!
Growing up, my home church had the perfect pastor. He led our congregation for 13 years. The church grew. New ministries started. He coached our High School basketball team and led us to state competitions. It was really an idyllic environment to grow up in. I thought that everyone went to church and churches were always full.
The pastor that followed him was an immediate flop. The grumblings began right away. The three pastors that followed him all received the same treatment. The grumblings got louder. He doesn't visit enough. This one doesn't have enough hair. This one doesn't tell enough jokes. This one tells too many jokes.
But, in the background there had always been grumblings - even under our perfect pastor. Miss Nellie May din't like the way he led communion. Great Aunt Josephine didn't much care for the drum set sitting in front of the pulpit. Bob Johnson was upset that the pastor didn't celebrate all the Holy days that our church had once celebrated.
Finally, more than a decade after my childhood pastor made his exit - and after three pastors had been exhausted by the grumblings - I overheard a conversation that stopped me in my tracks.
A woman was sitting near the back of the congregation and she was grumbling about something the pastor had done. An older woman in the congregation turned around and said, "It wouldn't matter if Jesus Christ were standing up there preaching, it wouldn't be good enough for you."
She might have been talking about today's scripture. We find Jesus encountering the grumblings - and He faces them head on.
The people are upset that Jesus is eating and drinking. The same people who had been offended that John the Baptist neither ate nor drank - now they are offended that Jesus is doing both. They feel that Jesus should spend more time with the society people and MUCH less time with drunkards, sinners, tax collectors, and prostitutes.
there are two cures for the grumbles.
The first is prayer. Jesus immediately goes to prayer for these people. Prayer is powerful. Please pray for me every day. Please always be in prayer for your pastor. Pray for this congregation; that we can accomplish the will of the Father.
The second cure for the grumbles is Jesus.
Jesus calls out to these people and 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."
As your new pastor, I would like to go ahead and apologize and ask for your forgiveness. This is a new role for me. I'll be doing things I've never done before. I will make mistakes. I will mess up. I can almost guarantee that I will give you reason to do some grumbling - and I pray that we can go to prayer together and that we can go to Jesus together.
Whew! It feels great to let go of the burden of trying to be the perfect pastor. It feels great to give up the burden of preaching the perfect first sermon! It feels great to let go of my yoke and take Jesus' yoke.
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The yoke is the device used to carry heavy things. We most often see it in pictures of third world countries carried by a woman gathering water for her children, or on the shoulders of farm animals.
In the Jewish faith, you would pick a Rabbi - or have one chosen for you - and you would take on their "yoke." You would learn everything they believed about everything and your job would be to accept all of it and to carry it.
Over the centuries, these yokes became more and more oppressive. On top of all the books in the Old Testament, the Rabbi's would have interpretations of every passage. They would have interpretations of the interpretations of other Rabbis. The list of rules became unbearable.
As a diciple, your job would be to pick up the yoke. [at this point I will pick up a board with a bucket on either end] Of course we believe the ten commandments, and the Old and New Testament. And we know not to wear a hat inside the church building. Unless your a woman, in which case maybe you should wear a hat. And of course we believe in Robert's Rule of Procedure. And soon enough, this yoke becomes uneven and just too much to bear. And we need to let it go.
This is where the world and the Jewish faith were when Jesus came on the scene. Jesus came and spoke words that were very different than those the other teachers spoke. He didn't bring more rules, or even different rules. He brought grace.
Jesus promise that his yoke is easy. Jesus is a transformative force in history. There's BC and AD - everything in the world hinges on the birth of that baby in Bethlehem and on his willingness to die on the cross so that we don't have to carry the burdens of this world any longer.
Jesus took the weight of our yoke on his own shoulders. He took the heavy bookbag off our backs and put a small Bible in our hands. Jesus took the cross, so that we wouldn't have to.
Rodney is an 18 year old with Crohnes disease. He missed 21 days of school in his final semester because of the debilitating effects of his disease. In his senior year he managed to bring his cumulative GPA up from near failing to a 3.5! His only poor subject was math. He chose a simple math class, but math has a way of building on itself and even missing one day could destroy your comprehension of an entire unit. Missing 21 days makes most of the problems just scribbles on a page.
He was right on the pass/fail line going into his final. He studied and got extra help. With trembling hands he got back his results. He had failed the course. If he had correctly answered just two more questions, he would have passed the class. His parents called the teacher to ask for a little leaway.
The teacher failed him. He didn't get to walk with his classmates. He'll get his diploma after he does remedial work.
No amount of pleading could get her to changer her mind. He had failed the class by two questions and that was that.
That's a heavy burden. Perhaps some of us are carrying heavy burdens this day.
Dear friends, Jesus our savior calls out to us - to take away our yokes and replace them with his own - the light and gentle yoke of a loving saviour. Our altar will be open during the closing hymn if you are ready to let go of your heavy burdens and find rest.
Dear ones, this world is full of people who are weary and carrying heavy burdens. As the church we don't have anything to add to their yoke. We have Jesus Christ and Him crucified to offer to this hurting world. We have a light and easy yoke to share with them.
Go forth this day and offer the light and easy yoke of Jesus Christ as Savior and living God.
