Weary? Jesus invites you to rest
Have you ever felt weary? I have. I was on a backpacking trip. It had been a good trip and a long journey –full of some unplanned challenges – including finding a dry creek bed where we had hoped to find water and changing our path to avoid a forest fire. And now we were now on the last leg of the trip. Our leader suggested we stop at the campsite where we had lunch – but others were eager to keep going, and I agreed, we hadn’t travelled far that day. And so we did...even though that meant we were travelling in the heat of the day. Much of our journey that day was down the mountain that we had climbed, which one would think it would be easier, but going downhill proved to be harder on my old knee injury than going up the mountain. The next campsite we came to had just had horses stay night – and was full of flies… so, we kept going. I wanted to stop but I kept telling myself that the next campsite wasn’t much further and so I didn’t say anything even though my knee was complaining. I kept telling myself, be strong, you can do it, just keep going. And that’s what I did…until… hot, tired, exhausted and with my knee starting to buckle I stopped, crumbled into a heap on the ground and said, “I’m sorry. I just can’t go any farther.” I was weary.
Not long ago I was visiting with a woman and I asked her how she was doing. She said, “I’m weary.” She had some physical issues going on – and was frustrated that her doctor couldn’t just “fix the problem” but even more, she was weary with the world. And she is not alone.
Theologians like Karl Barth 1 have long encouraged pastors to preach with one eye on the Bible and the other on the newspaper – or where ever you get your news these days. Unfortunately, there is much going on in the world that can make us weary. My newsfeed is full of ongoing news of the war in Ukraine, gun violence that keeps erupting in schools and in crowds –as of this writing I’m thinking of the mass shooting in Baltimore where one of my sons now lives—as well as the increasing heat of the planet. None of those things have easy answers and the world feels out control. A little closer to home, I’m seeing more homeless people begging in our neighborhoods and an ELCA congregation in our synod who recently received threats for a statement of faith it used during Pride month. Divisiveness and animosity to people with different opinions is on the rise. It is more than enough to make us all weary.
Jesus’ followers were weary too. The Roman soldiers were not a gentle occupying force and neither the Pharisees nor the priests of the day were open to the message of Jesus. But in response to the hardness of heart of the political and the religious authorities, Jesus offers a prayer for wisdom for his followers and then an invitation. Jesus says: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
In the Hebrew Scriptures, our Old Testament, the word “yoke” is used as a symbol of slavery and servitude. The prophet Jeremiah wore a wooden yoke on his neck in Jerusalem as a symbol that the people should submit to the rule of Babylon – and that if they did not, they would wear a yoke of iron. The people didn’t listen – and they suffered. Later in Rabbinic writings, the “yoke” became a symbol of service to God. It is this tradition that Jesus is calling to mind for the disciples. His yoke is not a wooden yoke of submission or the iron yoke of serving a foreign dictator.2 Instead, Jesus says, “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.”3
Our farming practices have come a long way since the days of yoked horse and oxen. But I remember, years ago, asking my grandfather about it because, back in his early days of farming, he plowed his farmland with two big horses yoked together. He said he usually tried to connect two equally strong horses together so that the plow would pull evenly. But, when he got a young horse by the name of Hans, he hooked him up to the same yoke as a bigger and older horse named Clem so that Clem could teach him. Whenever Hans would try to stray and eat some oats along the path, Clem would just keep walking and since they were yoked together, Hans had to follow. Also, since Hans was shorter than Clem, Clem was really bearing all the weight of the plow. Hans was simply learning how to follow.
This is what Jesus invites his disciples then and now to do – to take his yoke – and learn to follow. This is called discipleship. This is our vocation. By taking the yoke of Jesus, we can learn from his gentle and humble heart and find true rest, rest for our souls.
And yet… we resist. We want freedom. We want independence and somehow, we like to think that we can get this ourselves, on our own. We forget that we are connected with others.
That’s one of the things that I was reminded of on my backpacking trip. When I finally stopped, I was weary – and embarrassed -- and more than a little angry with myself for not being strong enough to do it on my own. I had to admit that I needed help. Luckily, I was not alone. My family came to the rescue. One son took my pack. What had felt like a huge burden to me looked pretty light when he swung it up onto his chest– and handily carried my pack - in addition to his own pack on his back. The boys went on ahead to set up camp. My husband stayed behind, gave me a drink of water, time to rest, and tended to both my injured ego and my weary soul with love and encouragement. Reflecting back, it was clear that my weariness on that trip was not only physical but included all the other emotional and psychological stuff I was carrying too. In addition to learning to pack lighter, drink more water and stop when my knee starts to hurt, I also learned that I don’t need to carry the whole load by myself. When I am tired, I can look to my yoke-mates, my community, my brothers and sisters in Christ, for help.
And, you and I can accept the invitation of Jesus.
In the Message Bible, Eugene Peterson paraphrases Jesus’ invitation this way:
Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly. (Matthew 11:28-30 The Message Bible -)
Jesus is inviting you and me into His way, a way in which we can learn the “unforced rhythms of grace.” This is the way we can learn to live freely and lightly and rest in the care of Jesus. When we are yoked with Jesus, Jesus is the one doing the heavy lifting. But, to be clear, this is not an invitation to a vacation in which Jesus carries the burdens and we do whatever we think we want to do. Jesus’ invitation to take his yoke upon us is an invitation to a vocation. We are invited to bear light, the light of Christ into the world.
This is not intended to be a burden. Instead, we are invited to learn the way of Christ. As yokemates, Jesus carries our burdens alongside of us and, when we feel a bit weary, what we need to do is to remember that we are not alone but rather look to our right or to our left – and “rest” in that, knowing that Christ is present… sometimes in the form of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Brothers and sisters, yoked with Christ, let us follow Jesus and embrace our vocation to bear the light of Christ in our world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Sunday, July 9, 2023 Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane
1https://wordandway.org/2020/05/05/the-bible-and-the-newspaper/
2https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/yoke
3 As Christians, we have adopted this tradition and ordain pastors by putting a “yoke” in the form of a stole upon pastors at ordination.