So I agreed Monday to preach the evening service tonight - and here's the sermon! I'm hoping to get back to some blogging soon. : )
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
16“But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, 17‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’ 18For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’;19the 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.”
25At 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; 26yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27All 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. 28“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find res t for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
I am a facebook addict. I am. I admit it. I am weirdly intrigued by the minutia of people’s every day thoughts and documentation of life from status updates to pictures (I especially love the pictures). For those of you who aren’t obsessed with facebook- let me give you a brief tutorial on the lingo. Everyone has their own webpage that friends are invited to see and interact on. If I’m having a particularly rough morning- I can go on my facebook page and write something like: “Two temper tantrums, 1 diaper blowout and a skipped nap- gotta love parenthood.” That is what we call a status update or a post. Then my friends who read the post can write a response to that- we call those comments. People will also post links to other websites or articles that they find online. I am ashamed to admit that I learn most of my current events from my much smarter friends who post news stories on their facebook page. It’s a great social networking community with the ability to share pictures and updates on your life. A while ago one of my friends posted a link to a website that listed a series of what they called “annoying facebook one-uppers”- and the common culprit was of course some of the most annoying and obnoxious people in the world: parents. It was basically your general parental postings about temper tantrums, sleepless nights, etc- and the subsequent comments from other parents that recounted their experiences that were obviously so much harder and more traumatizing to deal with. Annoying one-uppers. The examples were like this one that is a real conversation from a friend’s page. (show write up) I understand comraderie- but most of these comments were really to turn the focus on the more horrifyingly awesome story that the new commenter had posted. (If Kristin Wiig a possibiity- do it here)
Although reading these posts was funny- it rang very true to me, how often do you see this in life? People one-upping each other to make themselves feel more important? We have to admit it to ourselves- we - each of us- has a one-upper inside of us. You know you do- you hear a story about a surgery or a child’s cuteness, anything- and you have a story just like it... only better. You want to share- you need to share. Seriously though- here in northern virginia culture there is a pervasiveness of competition. Everyone is awesome in northern virginia- so the goal is to figure out how to prove that you are awesome plus 1. The lagging job market, burgeoning schools and lack of space only exacerbate this cultural norm to compete. This pressure-cooker of competition and one-upmanship causes us to turn the focus inward- to be concerned with how much we know, how good we are and how much more we know and are able to do than others.
Jesus sticks up for the underdog a lot in scriptures. He isn’t impressed with people who beat out the competition and show how awesome plus 1 they are. He doesn’t appreciate the showy-ness of the pharisees or the knowledge of the self-proclaimed wise. This is bad news for smart and competitive folks like us. Or is it good news?
Do you ever think- man- I’m just over it? Over the competition, over having to prove myself, over having to be in these one-upping conversations? It’s frustrating that we are so ingrained in this need to be the best and look the best- it’s hard to escape. It is burdensome. It’s hard to look and be perfect all the time, especially since we aren’t. It seems counter-intuitive, but I think we are the most weary and burdened when all we think about is ourselves.
When I read the scripture for today- after really thinking about it- I got the feeling that Jesus was also kind of over the whole scene of being important and doing what everyone else expects or wants you to do. He talks about the kids fussing with each other in the market- the children won’t laugh or cry at the right time for the other kids. He talks about the irony of people criticizing John for not partying enough and then turning around and criticizing Jesus for partying too much. It’s a little ridiculous. In a sigh of a prayer- Jesus thanks God for giving wisdom to the infants. I think he is just so fed up with people posturing themselves and talking about what they know and how important they are that he just flips it all upside down. Babies know more than these folks- and how refreshing. I believe it. Sometimes I look at my 2 month old son and his innocent smile and just breathe a little sigh of relief. He is not burdened by a thing, and yet he cannot do a thing for himself.
We hear the last phrase in this scripture a lot in Christian circles- and it’s really comforting to hear: “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.” I think we often hear this text as sort of a blanket promise that if we hang out with Jesus- he’ll carry our burdens for us and life will be easier. I’ve actually heard variations of this interpretation often. If you’re like me- you think- really- I feel like my burdens are the same if not more because I hang out with Jesus. My life did not get any easier the second I became a Christian- I didn’t suddenly develop the skill to glide through hardships the second I decided to follow Jesus. If we’re honest- I think we all can agree that life has some real burdens- no matter who you follow or how good you try to be. What could Jesus be saying in this scripture?
Maybe Jesus is not talking about an easier life here but a better way to carry the load. A wiser way - but the wisdom of infants. I hear Jesus telling us that the rest for our souls is found in learning gentleness and humility. I hear that word as a soft whisper of hope under the chaotic noise of competition, one-up-man-ship, defensiveness, and all the other trappings that come with feeling that we need to prove ourselves. The ironic thing that I have found in my relationships with all ages of folks- is that the most humble are the ones who are the most comfortable in their own skin. They are the ones who actually are surest of themselves. This sureness comes from an awareness of their strengths and weaknesses, and an acceptance of them. And when you have this comfort with yourself- you don’t feel the need to prove your worth to others- you already know that you are valuable. Jesus is certainly comfortable with who he is and does not feel the need to assert his power. Can you imagine how much time Jesus would have wasted if his focus was to prove who he was? Instead of focusing on proving his identity, he focused on being his identity- God incarnate.
As I was reading some commentaries on this scripture passage- something struck me that might be obvious to you- but it was a helpful distinction for me. When I heard the word yoke- I always heard it as synonymous with burden... but really the yoke is a method for carrying a burden. Like this yoke on the altar- it is a simple device placed on an animal that makes it easier to pull a heavy load. The load feels light. Often these yokes are shared between two animals to pull the load together.
Now I can get really into this whole yoke analogy and extrapolate all sorts of helpful nuances- but what I find most helpful is that Jesus isn’t promising the burdens to disappear. Jesus is offering to share the load- and what’s more- Jesus is sharing his yoke which is made so well that the burdens may feel lighter. Jesus is also asking you to lay down your burdens and share in his burdens, which do not involve puffing ourselves up or winning the competition- but rather, they are more valuable burdens to bear.
If we look closer at this scripture we can see the work that Jesus asks us to do. Jesus says: “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.” Part of the process of being able to lay down our heavy burdens is that we learn from Jesus’ gentleness and humility. That is what gives us rest, that is what makes the yoke easy and burdens light- and it is hard work.
If we drop the burdens of being the best, drop the need to prove ourselves, drop the battle that we war on ourselves with every critical thought and self-loathing behavior, we might find rest. We have a chance to escape from the confines of a narrow self-focused vision. We have the hope to be free from concern of scrutiny and judgement. We can turn our attention to caring for others and sharing their loads- this is the worthy load that Jesus carries.
Maybe there are some of you who are one of the babes that Jesus speaks about- you have managed to escape the tick that most of us have compelling us to one-up each other, thinking more and more of ourselves and less and less of others. Bless you who are graced with a natural gentleness and humility. Help the rest of us in our journey. Pray for us.
So here is my challenge to all of us in the coming weeks. Let’s learn from the gentle and humble Jesus. Let’s stop ourselves before we stop listening and start telling our story. Let’s recognize that God has created us and called us good- we can rest in that affirmation and stop proving ourselves to each other. Let’s get over ourselves. Then we are free to pick up the yoke of Christ and carry the burdens worth carrying. We can stop carrying our selfishness and start carrying others. We can stop carrying our high standard of living and start carrying the homeless. We can stop carrying our genius title and start carrying the mentally disabled. We can stop carrying our precarious hold of power and start carrying the powerless. We can stop carrying our ego and start carrying the hopes and dreams of our neighbors. Let’s drop the burdens of being important and all knowing- and learn from Jesus’ gentleness and humbleness and pick up the burdens of those who need our help. Amen.
