“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.”
I fear that this particular passage of scripture runs the risk of being over simplified. A quick assessment of it leads us to the idea that Jesus will help us through the rough times in our lives; but that is a significant oversimplification. I have often heard people, especially in songs, ask God to take over when times get rough as if God is going to swoop in and make it all better, but that is not how it works, nor is it how it is supposed to work. God is not, nor should they be treated as, a magic pill that is going to take away our pain and sadness. As I have said before, our relationship with God is just that, a relationship. It is almost like any other relationship in that both participants have a role to play, the difference between our relationship with God and with other people is that God never gives up, nor do they ever leave. Whereas people can and do leave relationships when we feel they no longer work, often without regard for the impact that leaving may have.
In Matthew’s discussion of the yolk of Jesus he is sharing a very specific image that is likely lost on us if we do not know what a yolk is or how it works. A Yolk is the wooden apparatus that is used to connect two oxen or horses together when attaching a plow, a wagon, or some other piece of equipment. It is designed to keep the two animals steady and on course, but it also allows them to work as a team. As both animals walk forward they push on the yolk and move everything forward equally; in addition, the yolk requires them to find a balance of movement, neither can move faster than the other, so with time they will fall into a rhythm of movement that both can handle. So, when we yolk ourselves to Jesus, to God, we are entering a relationship in which we both move forward together, at a pace that is comfortable for us. The idea that God is going to use their power to make it all better is the equivalent of wishing a hug from our mother is going to make our pain go away. The hug itself is not what makes us feel better, it is the security that we feel during the hug that makes us feel better; during the moment of the embrace, we are able to let go of whatever is bothering us, as if the other person is carrying our burdens, even if only for a moment. This is what God is offering to us through a relationship with them. By yoking ourselves to God we are choosing to accept companionship and help.
The skeptics in the room are already thinking back to when I said God doesn’t fix things. So, if God doesn’t fix things then how can an invisible being that I can’t see or hear help me. When I hug my mother I feel, see, and hear her; I can’t hug someone I can’t touch; which is a valid point. However, it is also missing the largest point in all of Christendom, and that point is that we are the body of Christ and since Christ is God, that means we are the body of God. Outside of the act of creation which establishes God’s omnipotence (look it up), God has always worked through us. The Hebrew people were saved from famine because Joseph, who had been sold as a slave to Egypt, ended up in a position to help them; they were freed from slavery because God sent Moses to do it; they were able to settle down and establish a pattern of life that focused on God because God sent prophets and kings such as David; and some of them, our spiritual descendants, were able to escape the spiritual and mental harm of living under Roman rule because God walked among us in the form of Jesus and left us a legacy of teachings that hold all that is necessary to have a meaningful, rich, and loving relationship with God and each other; but we still don’t understand what that means and I think that is because we think of God as something that is separate from ourselves and our reality. God is not off in the ether somewhere sitting on a throne of clouds, they are in the hearts and minds of every person.
I am going to ask you to do a really uncomfortable thing, but please try your best. I promise it won’t hurt or embarrass you in any way. I want you to find someone near you, I want you to face each other as best you can and when I say go, I want you to look into each other’s eyes for 5 seconds, not as if you are trying to look into each other’s souls, just look at each other and fully see the person in front of you. I will do the counting. Ready? Go!
How was that? Uncomfortable? If it was uncomfortable, that’s a perfectly natural feeling, it just means we need to practice more because ideally we should never feel uncomfortable when looking at Christ or when they are looking at us.
The yolk of God is not an invisible tether line between us and the creator of the universe, that would be silly and if that is what the church was all about I would remove my collar and never come back; but that is not what the yolk of God is, the yolk of God is the teachings of Christ and our taking of that yolk is what binds us to God and to each other. When we forget that, when we forget that we are all bound to one another through God, it is at that point that harm happens. The moment we separate God from their body, God loses all power in our lives.
As this is mental health awareness Sunday you might be wondering why I haven’t been talking about it, but the truth is that I have been. In my humble opinion, the most important part of mental well being is a sense of belonging. To have other people show you that they see you, by looking in your eyes, as if they are looking for God, is far more affirming than every pleasant, but half-hearted “how are you?” we have ever uttered.
Do not compartmentalize your life, do not compartmentalize God, instead look, and see God in everyone you meet because even if you don’t want to believe it, every person is a part of the body of Christ, which means that they are not only connected to us, but they are a part of us. Which I know sounds new agey, but think about it, if we all take on the yolk of God, then that means we are all sharing the burdens of humanity equally; God’s yolk is easy, and their burden is light because the body of Christ is vast and can share the load evenly. When our mother’s or father’s or even our best friend hugs us we feel better because it is in that moment that we experience the yolk of God. Your homework for this week is to be present to everyone you meet, even if you don’t feel like it. I challenge us all to look people in the eyes and remember. Remember that we are all a part of the same body and when you remember that also remember that you are looking at the face of God, and then smile. Amen.
Learning by Fire! 