The Rev. Robert P. Travis
Proper 9A Sermon – 8am and 10:30am Church of the Ascension, Knoxville TN
RCL 7/6/2014
Scripture Text: Zechariah 9:9-12, Psalm 45:11-18, Romans 7:15-25a, Matthew 11:16-19,25-30
Sermon Text:
When I sat down to prepare what I was going to say today,
I was reminded of that song, from Porgy and Bess,
“Summertime, and the living is easy.”
No, this time I'm not going to sing it for you.
It's not that I want to disappoint you,
I just don't know it that well.
But that line stood out to me.
Partly, I guess, because for many
Summertime does not mean the living is easy.
But this week we hear from Jesus,
another challenging statement
“my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Last week I was struck to the heart by Jesus statement,
“if anyone loves wife or children more than me,
he is not worthy of me.”
And I wondered for real,
am I not worthy of you Jesus?
because I love my wife and kids an awful lot,
and I feel down since they've been gone
to their cousins in Colorado so much this summer,
and since I was away from them for a month in Madagascar.
Does that feeling down mean I don't love you as much, Jesus?
That is not what he was talking about,
but it speaks to the core of Jesus message
at the beginning of the Gospel reading today.
When he compares this generation
(a term he often uses to criticize
the religious community around him)
to children calling to one another,
unsatisfied with the responses of the others,
he's basically saying,
no matter how God gave them people to teach them,
to show them the way to follow God
whether it's John and his ascetic, self-denying ways,
or Jesus and his loving life and being with
everyone in festivity, sinners as well as saints,
We don't receive them well,
they don't live up to our capricious expectations,
and so we are quick to criticize rather than embrace
God's messengers to us.
That speaks directly to the struggle I had last week,
because it was my own response
my own feelings
that I was finding lacking,
not Jesus himself,
not my faith in how he cares for me.
When it is all about our feelings,
how happy we are or pleased we are,
we will often be disappointed,
and feel like life is too much of a burden,
and that God is not providing for us.
But when we are looking to Him,
for what He is doing,
and how we can participate in that gracious will,
Less for our own fulfillment,
than the fulfillment of something more,
then we find the things Jesus talks about,
that are hidden from the wise and intelligent,
and revealed to infants.
This summer is full of uncertainty for many of us,
here at Church of the Ascension.
There are transitions coming up in our worship.
Our beloved Christian is heading into his new life
and marriage soon.
I'm about to go on sabbatical,
and we don't know how those changes will be received.
Last week as well,
I was praying about those things,
and I got a little worried,
a little anxious about what was to come for this place.
I prayed out loud, “God,
you're not going to remove the blessing from this place,
are you?”
And I did not hear an answer.
I was worried, because as you know,
we have been tremendously blessed in this place,
these past few years.
We have experienced resurrection,
and even been sent all around this community,
and even to the ends of the earth
to share the good news.
So it was natural for me to worry,
in the face of some uncertainty,
whether that blessing was coming to an end.
And then a very interesting thing happened.
On Sunday, after those baptisms,
and that beautiful service,
we came to the end of the Eucharist,
and I was the celebrant.
And a most unusual thing happened to me,
and I don't know if any of you experienced it differently
or not,
But I knew that my prayer had been answered.
As I raised my hand to pronounce God's blessing,
as I always do, and started to say the words,
I felt something that I rarely feel physically,
though I know in faith that the blessing is being given.
I felt this energy surge through my body,
like a pleasing kind of electricity flowing through me.
I had to turn to Howard and say, “that was great!”
And I realized, God had answered my prayer,
in a physical, non-verbal way.
He showed me, that the blessing is here,
and that His blessing will remain here,
through all of the changes that are to come.
Sometimes our experience of faith is non-verbal like that,
like when we come to the communion rail,
hungry in our spirits and we feel feed,
filled up, by the bite of spiritual body,
and the sip of spiritual blood
that we receive in our own bodies.
Sometimes it is not the words of a song that we hear,
but the way the melody touches our soul,
and gives us that comfort that only inspired music can offer.
And sometimes it's a peace from God
that we receive in prayer, when there are no words,
that gives us the strength to carry the burdens,
or face the challenges of our life.
Oftentimes that is the kind of rest,
that Jesus offers us
who are weary and carrying heavy burdens.
A kind of sacramental rest.
And it is so much more full of rest,
than the rest that summertime in its nature gives.
Charles Spurgeon wrote:
“The heart is by nature as restless as old ocean's waves; it seeks an object for its affection; and when it finds one beneath the stars, it is doomed to sorrow. Either the beloved changes, and there is disappointment; or death comes in, and there is bereavement. The more tender the heart, the greater its unrest. Those in whom the heart is simply one of the largest valves are undisturbed, because they are calloused; but the sensitive, the generous, the unselfish, are often found seeking rest and finding none. To such, the Lord Jesus says, “come unto Me, and I will give you rest.” (Synthesis)
He invites us to take his yoke upon us,
for, he says, his yoke is easy, and his burden is light.
That is to say, if we take the yoke of Jesus,
he is carrying it with us, and that makes it easy,
his partnership in life is what makes it light and bearable.
That is the true freedom we enjoy,
much greater than the independence that we celebrate in our Country this weekend,
the freedom to participate with Jesus as much,
or as little as we will.
His will is gracious,
gracious to allow us that freedom.
And the place that puts those of us who hope in him,
is one of being prisoners of a better kind.
As we heard from the prophet Zechariah,
who calls us “O prisoners of hope!”
“Return to your stronghold,
O prisoners of hope;
today I declare that I will restore to you double.”
To be a prisoner of hope,
is to trust in God's presence with us,
through non-verbal blessings, the sacraments
as well as words
in scripture and prayer.
To be a prisoner of hope is to rely
on the hope that Jesus is carrying the yoke with us,
and making the burden light by his presence.
To be a prisoner of hope is to give up our judgement of others
and of God, not expecting them or Him to be
the way we desire or what we feel we want,
but to hope that who he is
is better than we could ask for.
So today the lesson I draw from all of this,
is that it is not about us,
but about God's gracious will.
And the question is, will we participate in that will?
Will we welcome Jesus to carry our burdens with us,
and to share in his?
If we do, we will find that his yoke is easy
and his burden is light.
Again Spurgeon writes:
“Love will not be wasted,
however much it may be lavished upon Jesus.
He deserves it all,
and He requites it all.
In loving Him, the heart finds a delicious content.”
In loving Him, the heart finds a delicious content.”
He is not removing the blessing so long as we walk with Him.
Amen