Anne Matthews

July 7, 2002

Text: Matthew 11:25 At 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.

11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me;

I want to thank Susan for giving me this opportunity to deliver a sermon to the faith community that is St Matthew’s, where I first came 20 years ago. I would also like to thank Fr. Joe, who saw a potential lay vicar in me just a year ago and opened a new door in my faith journey. I dedicate these words to God in thanksgiving for the doors He has opened and all those in our lives who open doors for us.

--In today’s gospel from Matthew, Jesus is speaking not only to his followers, but also to the crowd and to the religious leaders, the Pharisees, who considered themselves the wise men of the day.

--What does it mean to be wise? The dictionary offers:

"knowledge of what is true or right coupled with good judgment" or "scholarly knowledge or learning" or

"wise sayings or teachings".

--But it’s easier to picture a wise person than to come up with a single definition. If I asked you to picture a wise person, who would it be? If you are a young person, it might be Harry Potter or one of his teachers. If you saw "Lord of the Rings" or read the Hobbit trilogy, it might be Gandalf. If you like Arthurian legend, it might be Merlin.

--Or maybe your wise person is a little more down to earth. How about Wilson, the neighbor across the fence in "Home Improvement"? He always has sage advice for the hapless Tim Taylor. Or maybe you picture Walter Cronkite, that wise deliverer of the evening news for so many years. What could be more calming to hear while our nation was embroiled in the Vietnam War than "And that’s the way it is".

--If we turn our view closer to home, right here at St. Matthew’s, haven’t we known some wise leaders: Chuck Huffman, William Cox, Joe DiPaola. You may have a wise person in your family--a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle. Maybe you aspire to be that font of wisdom in your family.

--No one is born wise, although they may come into the world with a special gift or talent. Then they have to serve a long apprenticeship to become truly wise, to learn how to use that gift. Think about the school Harry Potter and his friends attend to learn to be wizards. Remember the legend of King Arthur and his apprenticeship with Merlin that begins after he pulls the sword out of the stone.

--There are many wise people in the Bible. Wise men are often counselors or advisers to kings. Wise women were judges like Deborah, exhibiting a depth of understanding about people. Joseph and Daniel had a gift for interpreting dreams to the king.

--The message of the Old Testament is that rather than the source of wisdom being in individuals who have gifts of magic or divination (interpreting signs), wisdom comes from God the Father.

God uses wisdom to proclaim himself.

God uses wisdom to proclaim himself.

--Moses is a good example. He had no special powers until God spoke to him from the burning bush and sent him to liberate his people from bondage in Egypt. When God sent plagues and pestilence on Pharoah, Moses could have claimed that he was a magician. But he knew where the power came from and its purpose. And who could top the parting of the Red Sea so the Israelites could finally escape! Even Cecil B. DeMille could only come up with a poor imitation.

--The Pharisees knew their own history, the history of Israel, had studied God as the source of true wisdom, but they were victims of their own pride. They liked to think of themselves as wise, forgetting the source. Matthew is eager to see their hard heartedness, their refusal to believe in Jesus as the Messiah.

--In fact, Jesus calls them foolish, points out that his Father has revealed the truth about who Jesus is to infants--his followers, the working people and social and moral outcasts. The wise and intelligent didn’t have a clue.

--If you had been in the crowd listening to Jesus, wouldn’t you be astonished to hear him turn the popular idea of who is wise and what is wisdom on its head? What does he mean, the Pharisees are foolish? How can babes understand God better than these wise men? Jesus is reminding them and us of the ultimate truth--God is the source of all true wisdom; God reveals Jesus to the simple, the childlike in faith.

--So if we want to be wise, how can we learn, how we can begin our apprenticeship? Only we use the word discipleship to describe how we will learn from Jesus. Jesus, is wiser than any judge, more powerful than any wizard or magician, God in the flesh.

--Jesus says, "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me," he says. Hmmm...a yoke, you say? A curious request. A yoke is a contraption of wood and rope used to link two plow animals together. Jesus, as a carpenter, would have made yokes for local farmers. The animals pulled with the yoke against their shoulders, the plow behind them digging up hard, rocky soil so that seed could be dropped in for crops. Hard work.

--When farmers yoked two animals together, they put the more experienced animal on the outside to lead the inside, younger animal. The older ox or horse would stay focused on the plowing, unswayed by distractions beside him/her.

--Jesus is asking us to yoke with him. He’s asking us to be plow animals with him, pulling together. Whoa Nellie! Can this be right? Where is the wisdom in that? What is he asking of us? This is unlike any apprenticeship we have heard or read about.

--If Jesus wants us to put on the yoke with him, could it be that Jesus wants us to be like him? After all, the yoke won’t work if we don’t pull together, side by side. Does this mean he will be pulling with us, right alongside us in everything?

--And what does he mean by assuring us that his yoke is easy, resting easy against our shoulders? And his burden is light--a light plow behind us, no hard rocky ground to dig up? If these things are true, then we don’t have to focus on the yoke or to the plow. Just keep our eyes on him, walk with him, have him walk with us and learn of him, learn true wisdom.

--This does not mean that discipleship is easy, that we won’t have hardships in our lives or difficult lessons to learn. But one burden has already been lifted. Jesus has already paid for the heavy burden of sin; we don’t have to pull that around. As St. Paul says in our epistle today, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death."

--More good news is that he will be with us, through everything. Nothing can separate us from him, from his love.

--Jesus’ disciples stepped into the yoke, they joined up with him and walked the countryside with him, listening to every word, watching every miracle, wondering over the meaning of the parables, amazed at the crowds who surrounded him begging for healing. They did not understand a lot of what he said at first. But they stayed with him, side by side. As Jesus left them, he gave them the Holy Spirit who revealed Jesus’ life and teaching to them and through them to others, and today to us.

--So if we say yes to Jesus’ invitation to take his yoke, our apprenticeship begins, we sign up to be disciples. Some of us have been yoked with Jesus since we were children. Maybe we slipped out of the harness at some point and then discovered that freedom was lonely. Or maybe we’re just meeting Jesus, or wanting to meet him, curious about him. I don’t know, that yoke thing still sounds pretty strange. Pretty tame compared to "Fear Factor", but still a bit unusual.

--I invite you to step into the yoke and learn of Jesus. You will find him gentle, patient, humble. You will find rest and a place to set down your burdens. With repentance, he will release you from the burden of sin. You will learn wisdom as you model your life on Jesus’. The yoke is easy, the burden is light. The burden is love. AMEN.