Gee-Haw!

Reverend Philip Stringer

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

LET US PRAY: O merciful Father in Heaven: You give the knowledge of your saving help — a comfort to your people. Feed our hearts with your Holy Word, and make our hearts instruments of your glory, today and all days. AMEN

Pardon me if I’m a little groggy today — I just returned last night from attending the wedding of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce at Madison Square Garden, and I am just worn out! Whew.

If you haven’t heard about it — here are a few details:

• Madison Square Garden

• 1,000+ attendees stuffed with stars from music, movies, TV, sports, the arts and upper crust — but also with family and childhood friends.

• Famously cloaked in mystery beforehand

• Mobile phones were checked at the door (ie. — locked up)

• Non-disclosure agreement

Taylor Swift is arguably the biggest music star today with an estimated net worth of about $2.2 billion.

Travis Kelce — the Kansas City Chiefs star — is estimated to have a mere $100 million net worth.

Travis and Taylor have had a challenge to balance public and private life — From all accounts, it was a lovely day — they are a lovely couple, and I certainly wish them the very best.

I mention all of this because I couldn’t help pondering their wedding with today’s gospel reading on my mind. And I don’t say that as a criticism of them or their wedding, but as an example of the complicated dynamics of power that Jesus lifts up in the text.

When it’s your wedding, you should decide what it is like and who and who isn’t invited. But with the Kingdom of God, that’s not how it works. What Jesus proclaims to the crowd around him — and to you and me today — is that access to the abundant life God intends is not for a chosen few, but for all. While human dynamics may get complicated, the kingdom of God is not — all are welcome. The only barriers to experiencing it RIGHT NOW are the ones we erect, ourselves.

100 years before Martin Luther, there was a priest in Bohemia (what is today the Czech Republic), who was troubled by practices he saw in the church.

When the pope declared war against the King of Naples, Hus said it was wrong — the church should pray for its enemies. He also said that the Bible should not just be written in Greek and Latin — for only clergy to read — but in the common languages of the people.

He also said that forgiveness of sins is by God’s grace, experienced through repentance.

Tomorrow — July 6 — marks exactly 611 years since he was burned at the stake as an enemy of the church and God.

What Jan Hus observed was exactly the sort of situation to which Jesus was speaking.

Our gospel reading today begins in the middle of comments he is making about how John the Baptist was received:

He didn’t eat and you called him a demon.

I DO eat, and you call me a glutton.

But of course it’s not about eating or not eating — it’s about the people rejecting God’s presence in their lives — because what God wants is inconvenient for those who only care about themselves.

And that is also the irony — all they care about is themselves, but that is exactly the problem.

I have often said that nobody can follow Jesus alone — because the way of Jesus is the way of loving your neighbor. They way of Jesus is the way of seeing that you are in relationship with everyone in the world.

So, a person who cares only about themselves is missing the whole point of life. It isn’t until one stops chasing after their own desires — and instead starts chasing after the things that bring peace and joy to others, that one finally begins to live.

And you and I know that for us it’s not an “either/or.” It’s a “both/and.” We are trying to follow the way of Jesus, but we cannot shake our sinful nature, and we cannot follow perfectly. We come up short.

Paul understood this, too. That’s why he said, “why do I do what I don’t want to do, and I don’t do what I do want to do?”

The propensity of people to live for themselves is the reason that Jesus told his disciples that those who seek to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for him and the gospel will find it.

And it’s also why he said the first will be last and the last will be first.

And it is also the reason we should thank God as Jesus did.

“At this 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…”

Jesus is not celebrating the exclusion of some; what he is celebrating is that God’s desire to reveal wisdom to infants means that it is available to all — not just the wise and intelligent; not just the rich and powerful; not just the famous and popular — but to all of us.

“…’yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”

And there’s that word, again. Grace. You and I are invited to God’s abundant life — not because we have earned it, but simply because God wants us to have it.

It’s not complicated. We are. Given Taylor Swift’s wedding, I can’t help but throw in a quote from one of her songs: “It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem. It’s me.”

Why do we make things so hard? Why do we make our burdens heavy?

This weekend we are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence — and there is so much to celebrate. One can hardly even begin to name the ways we benefit from the freedoms we enjoy. But you know our country isn’t perfect. True to human nature, there are barriers everywhere.

If I remember correctly, 17 of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were slave holders. Signing a document stating that “all men are created equal.”

You know, of course, that black people were not allowed to vote.

Women were not allowed to vote.

Even white men were not allowed to vote unless they owned property.

But in our founding documents is that phrase, “a more perfect union.” Not perfect; MORE perfect.

I have to believe that they put that language in there because they knew things weren’t perfect, but they believed they could get better — perhaps in ways they could never imagine, but better.

Why do we make things so hard? Why do we make our burdens heavy?

Our gospel reading today ends with Jesus using the imagery of a yoke — which is another great paradoxical image. When people think of a yoke of oxen — I suspect what comes easily to mind is that a yoke looks a lot like a public stocks — the wooden boards with holes for a person’s head and hands to be shackled. Nobody wants to be put in the stocks.

But a yoke is not a stocks.

Tillers International — what they do. Train people how to work with oxen.

Video showing different yokes — some are sharp and narrow and can be uncomfortable for oxen.

What they use is an open yoke — smoother with gentle curves.

In Hollywood, we see people cracking whips to drive horses and oxen, but in reality, one doesn’t work with oxen by intimidating and punishing them. Instead, their training begins when they are still calves, and it begins with gaining their trust. Every day for the first years of their lives until they are 4 years old — fully grown and ready to work.

The yoke isn’t a shackle — the yoke is what enables the two oxen to pull their burden together.

The person who works with oxen is called a “drover,” and the stick they use for working with the oxen is called a “goad.” The drover doesn’t beat the oxen with the goad — he or she taps them on different parts of their bodies to communicate commands.

So really, the team is not just the two oxen. It is all three of you learning to work together to pull a common load.

You can’t follow Jesus alone, because the way of Jesus is the way of relationship; of working together.

The gospel is not complicated. We are. We are the ones who load ourselves down with heavy burdens — drawing lines between insiders and outsiders — good and bad — holy and unholy — saved and not saved — patriot and traitor . . . It’s us. We’re the problem. It’s us.

But hear, again, the good news: The gospel is not complicated. You are loved. You are valued. You are included. The abundant life of God is open to you today. You are invited to this table (altar) — not because you have earned a place there, but simply because God wants you there.

“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.”

AMEN