July 9, 2023, His Yoke Is Easy, Matthew 11:16-30 – Mtr. Kathryn Boswell

saintphilipsnorwood ♦ July 9, 2023 ♦ Leave a comment

To listen to this sermon, click the link above. Below is an outline of the sermon.

We just got back from our vacation in Quebec. What was restful:

Beautiful countryside, visiting the Abbaye and quaint little villages, staying in a lovely quiet B&B, wonderful food that I didn’t have to cook, no alarm clocks or phone calls, lots of time to read, hours and hours outdoors every day – no computer or social media!

Then, Friday night, we got home. And that was restful, too, but in a whole different way:

We drove up our peaceful street, and Victoria and Lyanne came to have dinner with us, Trapper and Percy came running out to greet us, there was the garden and all the wonderful familiar things of home – even restful throwing a load of our travel clothes in the washer and hanging them out, and pulling out a few of the weeds that grew while we were gone

In Matthew’s gospel today, Jesus offers rest to anyone and everyone who needs it. It is one of my very favorite passages: (read 11:28-30)

But what kind of rest is Jesus talking about, exactly? This is such a familiar passage, that today I wanted to look really closely at the words Jesus uses here so we can really understand what he’s saying, and what he’s offering us

1. I will “give you rest” – refresh you

Jesus isn’t offering us retirement. Discipleship isn’t something you retire from – we never retire from loving God, or from loving our neighbor. So, first of all, Jesus promises us refreshment for the road ahead, a cup of cold water when we’re thirsty, peace in the midst of troubled times, encouragement – which means “new heart” – as we pray “create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me”.

2. you will find “rest” for your souls – a resting place, a permanent residence

Same word in English, but a different word in Greek. Rest here is not just the cessation of movement or labor; it isn’t idleness; it is finding a permanent residence. We go on vacation to get away from responsibility, to slow down the pace of our lives, but the rest Jesus is talking about here is about being rooted, about stillness – rest that is with us no matter where we are or what is happening in our lives.

3. my yoke is “easy” – kind, gracious, profitable “My yoke will do you good, and not harm”

Jesus isn’t offering us a desk job, some way to get by without having to work so hard – he is offering us profitable things to do, things to do that do us good and not harm, work that satisfies us and fills us, that doesn’t use us up – but also work that bears fruit, that does good for others and for God’s kingdom. It’s what Jesus promises in John 15, where he tells us that he is the vine, and we are the branches, and that as we remain rooted in him we will bear much fruit, fruit that will last.

4. my burden is “light” – it isn’t burdensome

And rest means that what we do is not a heavy load for us, it’s not burdensome to us. That doesn’t mean we don’t get tired, or our muscles will never ache again, or even that we won’t need to take time out. It means that it doesn’t wear us out; it doesn’t dim our spirits or weary our hearts. We have a common expression that we use, that something we do is a “labor of love.” Maybe it’s cooking for our family, maybe it’s staying up all night to care for someone who is sick, and it might be very tiring, but it fills us because we are doing it out of love. Jesus offers us a yoke of love.

And just a word about yokes:

(describe a yoke – not an ox yoke, but a yoke for human labor) A yoke is not a burden, in and of itself. The purpose of a yoke is to make it easier to carry heavy loads; it distributes the weight of the load; it makes it more comfortable to carry a heavy load. A well-made yoke makes work easier, not harder.

The yoke is a symbol of obedience. Jesus once criticized the Scribes and Pharisees harshly (“woe unto you! Because you load down the people with burdens too heavy to carry, but you are unwilling to lift a finger to make their load lighter.”) The burden he was talking about was the Law of Moses, along with all the hundreds of regulations they had added to the Law. When Jesus talks about his light and easy yoke, he is talking about his new commandment, which wasn’t a new commandment after all, but the right way ofobedience to God – which is to love God and to love our neighbor.

I believe that this promise is uniquely important to us at St. Philip’s, because it’s been a guide for our life together as a community of faith and ministry. A little over ten years ago, on March 7, 2013, God gave me these verses while I was praying for the church. You might have noticed it summarized on the front page of our newsletters: “Welcoming the weary, dedicated to discipleship.”

It is my belief that God has given St. Philip’s a special call to this particular obedience, calling us to wear his light yoke here in Norwood, to do his labor of love: first of all, to offer a safe and restful place for anyone who enters this place, to be a place of healing and refreshment in many different ways, following our Lord’s example.

And he has called us to wear his yoke of love as his disciples – to do the work of his kingdom, following his example of service, whether that’s serving on the altar guild, setting our the linens and holy dishes for our celebration of the Eucharist, being a friendly face downstairs in the Thrift Shop, serving hot dogs at our Community Lunches, praying faithfully for the needs of the church and the community – but also growing in our knowledge and understanding of God in Friday Bible Study, or in your personal reading, or listening attentively to sermons on Sunday morning. Those are all ways we follow Jesus when he tells us, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.”

I’d like us to close by praying today’s collect again, together, asking God to give us his grace today and every day, not growing weary in our loving, but always coming to him in our need for the refreshment and strength only he can give us:

Collect, p. 230 in the Book of Common Prayer

O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.