Sermon for Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Sermon for Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

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Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

In the Gospel reading today are the beautiful and perhaps familiar words of Jesus about the easy yoke that he gives. But the reading starts as a prayer of Jesus. And then he turns back to the crowd he’s speaking to and kind of shifts gears into the section about all who are labored and heavy laden coming to him. And then the part then he talks about the yoke. All of this reading today follows a series of Jesus responding to lots of questions about him being the Son of God, the Savior. He uses some pretty strong language in responding to the Pharisees who were opposing and challenging him.

But what did these words of Jesus mean to the crowd who heard him back then? What was this heavy-laden yoke that they were bearing? Well, it’s a couple of things, I think, that for both the Jews and the non-Jews who were in the crowd listening to him. There was the yoke of oppression of the Roman Empire that controlled much of the government and travel and commerce of the area. There was this yoke of heavy taxation and overbearing civil laws for them to live by. And for the Jews who heard Jesus, there was also the heavy-laden yoke of the law that was imposed on them by the religious leaders, by the Pharisees. There were as many as 613 laws that they were heavy-laden with that they were supposed to follow. Laws that the Pharisees were imposing on them. The people were probably well aware that they weren’t able to keep all of those laws. And the religious leaders made sure that they were reminded of this yoke, that they were supposed to obey all of these laws.

In fact, the first reading, the very first verse of the reading, Jesus thanks the Father for hiding things from the wise and understanding and revealing them to little children. Well, he’s talking about the Pharisees and that the truth of God’s grace apart from the law was being hidden from them. And God was revealing it to the people that had the yoke of following that law. People needing that grace. His little children.

And Jesus then offers these little children a lighter and easier yoke—one that’s not like the oppressive laws being imposed on them. He’s giving them a yoke that gives them rest, not only from the cares of the oppressing world that they live in, but also rest from the laws that they can’t keep. It’s a yoke that gives rest for their souls. And it’s God the Father’s gracious will that this happens. And it’s His will for us today.

Jesus knows of our yoke too. He knows of your yoke. He knows that you can be heavy-laden with the oppressing things of this world. The yoke of finances and relationships or career uncertainty. The yoke of feeling stuck in situations that you don’t have any control over. The yoke of feeling the need to maintain a certain image professionally or even physically. Or the yoke of concern over grades or making the cut of a team or some organization. Or just the yoke of failure here in your life. And lately, the yoke of worry over safety and health in a time of pandemic and civil unrest.

These yokes and more that you’re carrying right now can leave you feeling heavy-laden, as our reading says. And I like some other translations of this passage too that use the words like tired or exhausted. And isn’t that what it’s like to carry a heavy yoke in life? To carry a heavy burden? It makes you tired and exhausted from having this yoke on you all the time.

But wait, there is more, okay? There’s also the yoke of sin. Of you not being able to keep the laws and commands of God. Of failing to carry the yoke of loving God above all things and failing to carry the yoke of loving others as yourself. The sins that you’ve done to others can be a heavy-laden yoke on your heart and on your soul, leaving you in shame and guilt.

But Jesus speaks to His heavy-laden, tired, and exhausted children today. He speaks to you. He speaks to the ones who realize they can’t do anything about the burden of the yoke that they’re bearing in life, especially the yoke of sin. Because that burden can only be lifted by God. And the rest that you want for your soul can only come from Jesus.

Jesus, the yoke of sin and worry and fear in life can be taken away by Jesus. And that’s what He’s done—not only taking that yoke, but giving you an easier one. And I don’t want you to get out of this today just coming out of it feeling good about having hope and relief from the burdens or problems in your life. That’s a good thing, but this isn’t just about life being all skittles and unicorns in life, okay? More so, I want you to know the relief and rest from the burden of sin that Jesus gives to us in the bearing of the yoke of sin that He’s done for us on the cross. And now, offering the easy yoke of forgiveness.

See, it’s more than a yoke to just make you feel better about your problems in life, but Jesus gives a yoke to relieve the burden of your sin. That yoke Jesus gives is for your rest, for the rest of your soul. Now something about yokes. In Jesus’ time, yokes were for animals and they were made out of wood, okay? The yoke maker would take great care in measuring the animals, the individual animals that were going to be carrying this yoke because they’re all different, they’re all different sizes. He would then make a rough version of that yoke and put it on the animal and then make adjustments on it until it fit comfortably so that the animal wouldn’t be bothered by it when it’s working.

In fact, the word in the reading today for easy, for an easier yoke, translated, refers to the yoke being comfortable or useful, meaning that this yoke was just right for this animal. That would be an easy yoke to carry. It’s not hurting me; it’s not really burdening me down and that’s the easy yoke that Jesus gives for us.

There’s a legend about Jesus before he started his ministry work. We know from the scriptures that he was a carpenter, you know, like his father. And the legend is that he made wooden yokes as part of his carpentry work and that his use of this illustration in the reading today is that he makes a yoke for us and he would understand of making it to fit us well and to be an easy yoke that’s comfortable and fits us just right.

Well, that part is legend about Jesus being a yoke maker. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t, I don’t know, but he indeed makes a yoke for us and has given it to us, an easy, comfortable yoke—not by putting wood together to make a physical yoke, but by being nailed to another piece of wood, the cross. Taking that yoke upon Himself to give us the easy yoke of forgiveness that fits us just right for the sins that we’ve done, for our situation and problems in life, that this is God’s work for us and not something that we’re able to do.

We can’t take that yoke off, but Jesus can and does. We can’t take it off. We’re so tired and exhausted from carrying it; Jesus takes it for us. And that yoke of Jesus then really isn’t a burden at all. Like he says, it’s easy. It’s a burden of rest. It’s a hidden thing that we receive as his children—God’s gracious will of giving that to us.

Now, times like these that we’re living in today can really bring on burdens to us, can’t they? Yeah, we can really feel that right now. It’s a crazy time and at this weekend here of Independence Day in our nation, we maybe don’t feel so independent because we’re worried and fearful over just about everything going on in the world. We really feel heavy, laden, tired, and exhausted, worried, and fearful. And we don’t have to carry that yoke. You shouldn’t have to carry that yoke. Let Jesus take it. Let Jesus take the worry, the fear of this world to relieve you of that, to give you rest, and to take the yoke of your sin, to give you the easy yoke of forgiveness.

Another thing about a yoke: how is it that Jesus makes it an easy yoke? A yoke is usually for two animals, not just for one, but for two that are carrying this double-sided yoke. It’s easy to see then a yoke being easy to bear when Jesus is with us carrying it for us. Knowing that Jesus is carrying the yoke that we’re heavy-laden with, knowing that He is carrying it too, makes it a little easier, I think, to carry that.

So for those of you who are tired and exhausted from the burden of your sin, may you know the easy yoke and rest for your soul that Jesus gives to you, an easy yoke of forgiveness. And may that easy yoke then relieve the worry and fear over the situations of our world today. Amen.

Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.