If we cut right to the chase and surveyed 100 people who attend church and asked them, " What does the gospel mean to you," I bet a good 50 would cite this passage from Matthew about "taking my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
I' m not going to say much about the first part of Matthew' s passage this morning, the negative from Jesus—Jesus did get angry from time to time and did castigate some of the people for not listening—especially the religious leaders. But today, on our anniversary Sunday, I want to focus more on the positive part of the reading, the bit about yoke and burden, which is easy and light.
If there was a text that could be the basis of reaching out to those who see the yoke of religion as a huge burden, this would be the passage. Jesus is agreeing with those today who might suggest that the yoke of religion is a heavy burden. Jesus affirmed that there were many in his day and age who were burdened down by the religious bureaucracy of the scribes and the Pharisees. There were many more who were put off by the pretensions of the religions of human beings!
The yoke was a harness that one put on oxen or beasts of burden to have some measure of control when ploughing a field or hauling things. Yoke became a common metaphor in Judaism for servitude and for behaving obediently. For some Rabbis of ancient Judaism, though, the idea of the Torah was not a burden or something that creates servitude, but a joy, a blessing, a means of transformation. Some people seem to have a knack for turning something that is meant to be freeing and transforming into something that is a requirement—that which requires obedience and becomes a heavy burden.
Jesus' yoke, just like the Torah, is a yoke that is easy and light. It is not burdensome, does not require obedience, and does not require servitude! Jesus' yoke, like the Torah, is the yoke of transformation, the yoke peace, and the yoke of never having to be stuck in one' s brokenness or sorrow. It is not an invitation to a life of ease, but a release from the burden placed upon us by our human pretensions toward religion. In other words, the yoke of Jesus releases us from the burden of religiousness (religiosity or religiousnessism—one of those isms) and opens us to the transformative power of love, forgiveness, reconciliation, justice and peace, all of which are part of our religious tradition and many traditions!
Worship, which is one of the things that we do as part of the tradition that follows Jesus, is a case in point. Many people see worship as a burden—"do I have to go to worship this morning?!" And indeed, worship can be boring and unenlightening! (Not here, of course! ?) Instead, worship, through music, symbols, communion and baptism, through word and action, is mean to lead us into a new awareness of the world around us, a new sense of God's presence, a newfound appreciation of love; worship is an expression of our love for the world and our thanks for the gift of life.
Worship, as befits the literal meaning of the word, is about worthiness; it is about affirming the worthiness of each one of us, complete with all of our warts and struggles, the worth of all life, the worth of those especially who face difficulty due to oppression, injustice, grief or hardship. Worship literally means "worth-ship." In worship we discover again and again—each week—that all life is worthy of God' s love.
I was challenged a few weeks ago by someone who said that we United Church people have watered things down to such a degree that we don' t believe anything anymore. Well, I quoted this Matthew passage about Jesus' yoke and burden as a template that the United Church broadly uses to proclaim the message that we are all worthy of God' s love. I said that we don' t focus on the religious burdens of behaving in a certain way or of believing all of the things we are supposed to believe in the same way. "Well," the person said, "what about worship and inclusive language—you' re changing the words!" And I said, "Yes we are because we believe in the worth and dignity of all life and every person, whether a woman or a man." If believing in the basic rights of every individual, the worth of children, women and men, our hope for justice and freedom in the world, a right for forests to be what they were created to be, for animals to live and prosper, for an environment that is fit for all life to thrive, for clean water for everyone—if these things aren't part of our religion, then what is the point?! ( I felt a bit like the "I am Canadian" commercial when I was saying all of this.)
But this is the yoke and burden of Jesus—the transformative power of love that says to us all and to all of life from God, "You are mine, and I love you. I will hold you in the palm of my hand and call you by name. You are my beloved!" We all need to hear that. This is the yoke of Jesus and the burden that he asks us to carry. This is the message that we proclaim and the invitation that we make to the world around us: join us in carrying this burden of love and hope and experience your worth and the worth of all life. This is what we' ve strived for these past 16 years together and this is what we will continue to strive for and proclaim.
That old Spiritual, "Hold On" speaks of holding on to the plough—holding on to the yoke—and the freedom that this yoke brings. This is what we are about—this freedom, this promise of change:
When you plow, don't lose your track,
Can't plow straight and keep a-lookin' back
Keep your hand on that plow,
Hold on.
Keep on plowin' and don't you tire,
Ev'ry row goes higher and higher,
Keep your hand on that plow,
Hold on.
If you want to get to heaven, I'll tell you how,
Keep your hand on the Gospel plow,
Keep your hand on that plow,
Hold on.
If that plow stays in your hand,
Head you straight for the Promised Land,
Keep your hand on that plow,
Hold on.
If we hold on, it is a mighty fine ride!
Amen.
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