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Isaiah 42:1-4 (parishioner request);
Matthew 11:28-30
In the Name of Jesus. Amen. This morning’s sermon text from Isaiah 42 is one that was requested by a parishioner who took us up on the invitation to suggest a sermon text or topic this summer. Let me read it again, to get it fresh in your mind, this time from the New Living Translation: "Look at my servant, whom I strengthen. He is my chosen one, and I am pleased with him. I have put my Spirit upon him… He will reveal justice to the nations. He will be gentle – he will not shout or raise his voice in public. [This is the verse she was particularly interested in]: He will not crush those who are weak, nor will He quench the smallest hope. (it continues): He will bring full justice to all who have been wronged. He will not stop until truth and righteousness prevail throughout the earth. Even distant lands beyond the sea will wait for his instruction."We are now in the church season of Pentecost – fully half the year. It is that long stretch of the church year between Pentecost (that great event in Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit came in dramatic fashion to the disciples) and Advent. The other half of the year is filled with holy days and seasons: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter – all very hope-filled, all very inspiring! Because the season of Pentecost lacks any such day or season, it is often called “Ordinary Time” – just one ordinary week, one ordinary Sunday after another, week after week, Sunday after Sunday -- 24-28 of them. No big festival to break up the routine or monotony of ordinary life. The Scripture readings during this long stretch of ordinary time have to do with just that: what does it mean to be a Christian, to live a life of faithful Christian discipleship, when there are no Christian holy days, no great Christian festivals to inspire us; when it’s just one ordinary day after another? This text from Isaiah 42 is actually a very fitting one for this ordinary time. It comes from a portion of Isaiah’s prophecies about the promised Messiah called the “Servant Songs,” and casts an image of God not as a great military hero, or the champion of just one nation, or the most powerful nation, but as a suffering servant-king who comes for all people, no matter what nation. Throughout human history, even to this day in the United States, it has been the common opinion that God is on the side of the rich and powerful. In the days of the Old Testament, when armies and nations battled, everyone knew that whosever army, whosever nation won, had the strongest god, and that god was on their side. Victory was the measure of your particular god. If you were defeated, clearly your god was not as powerful as the victor’s god. If you were wealthy, your god was blessing you; so obviously, if you were poor, you were not being blessed. Tune in to any number of televangelists in television in our country, and you’ll hear the same thing today. But Isaiah writes of a different kind of Messiah. Not one of conquerors and kings, but a Messiah who comes to lift up the crushed and the weak, who embraces those who can barely manage to hope at all anymore. We hear Jesus himself saying much the same thing, almost as if fulfilling this text from Isaiah, at the end of this morning’s gospel text: “Come to me, all you who 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 word "easy" in Greek speaks directly of yokes which were tailor-made for specific oxen, removing all splinters or rough spots so as not to produce sores on the animals, measured and made for particular oxen in order to be "well-fitting." Jesus is saying that the yoke he invites us to take, the yoke that brings rest to weary people, is one that is made exactly to fit our lives, our loads. The yoke he invites us to wear fits us perfectly, does not chaff us nor cause us to develop sore spirits. But why a yoke? Isn’t a yoke meant for work, drudgery? The yoke Jesus describes is designed not for you alone, but for two – specifically so you don’t have to bear your load alone. Our yoke-partner is none other than Jesus himself. When we are bruised, when we are crushed, when we are struggling with hopelessness or depression, Jesus creates a yoke-for-two and, bending down, places his head into that yoke and, taking a good part of the weight of that load from us, walks with us toward health and hope. I read recently that you can order a Visa card from the Internet with a picture of Jesus on it. A Jesus Visa! The website pitches this credit card with the line "Show the world your love for the Most High." The idea, apparently, is that the more you use your credit card, the more you can show the world your love for Jesus. You can also load a Jesus screen saver onto your computer. You can buy Jesus playing cards, Jesus bumper stickers, Jesus bookmarks, Jesus key chains, Jesus sunglasses, and Jesus earrings. The selling point is that these trinkets enhance your relationship with Jesus. Some Christians claim to find comfort and encouragement in them. Others find them an outrageous commercial gimmick. Either way, I don’t think that’s what either Isaiah or Jesus had in mind. As we read through the gospels, the good news of Jesus’ life and ministry, it quickly becomes clear that Jesus associated with the lowly, with those often excluded from the religious community – the bruised, the crushed, the hopeless, the different, the outcast. Soren Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher who suffered bouts of extreme depression. When he was 35, he came to faith in Jesus Christ, a faith that he had long sought. He finally became whole, he finally got the best of his depression and his religious skepticism. He confided to his journal, “My whole nature is changed… Now by God’s help I shall become myself, I believe now that Christ will help me to triumph over my melancholy.” He spoke of “an unfailing and ever fresh source of joy: that God is love.” He learned to love not only God, but himself as well: “And now, with God’s help, I shall become myself.” What a liberating thought: “And now, with God’s help -- He will be gentle…He will not crush those who are weak, nor will He quench the smallest hope – I shall become myself.” Not what others expect me to be. Not some unrealistic image I have of myself. No, with God’s help I shall become who I truly am. No more stressful pretenses. No more misguided strivings. I will relax, and be me. When we learn that we are accepted by Christ just as we are, then for the first time in our life we become free. When we are yoked to Jesus, we know that we are loved, accepted, forgiven. When we are yoked to Jesus, we no longer have to prove to the world that we belong. There is a story from World War II about a man in a small town named John, who had volunteered to be a salesman for war bonds. It was a thankless job. He had to go around to his friends and ask them to buy more bonds than they already had. One day he was at his desk eating lunch when he received a telegram from Western Union, a telegram no parent wanted to receive during wartime. The news was what he feared the most -- his son was missing in action. The moment that he had dreaded for so long was now upon him. He went home and broke the news to his wife and they had a prayer together. John had an appointment that afternoon to talk to someone about war bonds. Despite his personal depression, he decided to keep the appointment. He went at 3:00 to the office of a rather prominent and wealthy man in the community. “Bill,” he said, “I will get right to the point. You are a man of some means. You could be doing more, and I hope that you will do more.” Bill replied abruptly, “Now listen. Don’t ask me to do more than I am already doing. I am doing all that I can and I’m tired. I’ll continue at my present level, but I’ll do no more. Don’t ask me to do more.” “Well, if that’s your final answer,” John said. Bill responded “It is.” So John left Bill’s office. That evening the news came out in the paper that John’s son was missing in action. The recollection of the afternoon’s conversation echoed in Bill’s mind when he had said to John, “I am doing all that I can do. How can you ask me for more? I am doing all that I can.” That night he wrote a message to John. It read: “Sometimes each one of us is a fool and is selfish. Today I was both. I had no idea of the burden under which you labored this afternoon. Whatever is needed, you can count on me.” How often do we have no idea of the burden others are carrying, which they say nothing of. Christ bears our load with us so that we can then be free to do the real work that he has called us to -- and that is: to “pay it forward,” to bear the burden of someone else, to be the body of Christ ourselves for someone, to reflect ourselves the mercy of Christ – which makes every day a holy day, even in “ordinary time.” Amen. Rev. Joan Gunderman,
Senior Pastor |
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