July 7, 2002
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Balanced Life Prayer: We come together, O God, in response to your invitation. You alone know the burdens we carry, and you understand our weariness. When our journey seems long and without respite, we long for the refreshment you provide as we come to worship you. We thank you, God, that your revelation comes to us, not because we are worthy, but because we are open to your word. Open our hearts to receive all that you offer. Amen. (Adapted from Invocation for Proper 9, Year A, Taught By Love Lavon Bayler, United Church Press, p. 120) Today’s lesson begins where last week’s lesson left off - that is, John is still in prison, and we can assume that after being assured that Jesus is indeed the promised Messiah, John is less anxious and more confident than he was when he asked of Jesus, “are you the one who is to come, or are we to look for another?" Now Jesus looks at a crowd of people and identifies a problem. In the crowd he saw people not very different from us. They were relatively healthy, they were smart, and they were fairly secure in their lives. But there was something out of balance. Jesus wants to help them gain their equilibrium. Many of you know from personal experience that too little sugar if you are hypoglycemic, or too much sugar if your are diabetic, can cause an imbalance in your system. When that happens, the body weakens, thinking gets confused, and the consequences can be deadly. There are other imbalances. When a freight truck’s load shifts, as they sometimes do where I-70 and I-71 come together, things are thrown off balance and often the truck will jack knife and turn over and crash. People who work to the neglect of their families, people who insist that everyone agree with them, people who are too rigid and people who stand for nothing at all are all out of balance. Jesus looked at a generation of people, he could have been looking at us, who rejected both John the Baptist and Jesus and declared that generation to be out of balance. They were so out of balance that he compared them to children who can’t decide which game to play. Think of the children playing games in a backyard or in a city park or at Easton Town Center. You wouldn’t dance, and you wouldn’t mourn. Dancing is fun, but mourning does not sound like a game to be played. But did you know that in those days, as in our own, boys and girls played games that were based on the behavior of the adults they observed? Now it might be office executive, or computer technician, or parent, or teacher. Jesus is speaking of two kinds of adult activities children mimicked to make his point. They watched people in celebration and in grief. They understood that “the round dance that occurred at weddings, accompanied by flutes, was performed by men, while mourning, often done by professionals, was women’s work. The children who propose ‘let’s play marriage!’ can represent Jesus, who joyfully announces the arrival of the kingdom, while those who say, ‘let’s play funeral!' stand for John and his stern warning of coming judgment.” (Douglas RA Hare, Interpretations Series, Matthew John Knox Press, 1993, p. 123-124) Why would Jesus tell us this story? Because he knows that our generation of Christians, those of us who are alive and believing in the 21st century live with the same need to balance of our lives of faith as did the first generation of Christians. We might say with them, John is too hard, surely there is some slack for people who occasionally miss the mark. On the other hand, the grace Jesus talks about makes it seem all too easy. Love everybody? Show compassion and mercy even to people we count as enemies, practice forgiveness? What’s going on here? “Look”, Jesus says, “John fasted and fussed and you didn’t listen to him. I came and sat with you, ate and drank with you, played and danced with you, enjoyed life with you, and you didn’t care much for me either. John came, saying, ‘repent, turn away from your sinful life before it is too late.’ I came saying that God is blessing you, loving you, transforming you, bringing you by his own Son the hope that you will find salvation and well being. And what did you do? You bashed me and my character. “I heard you. ‘Look at Jesus. He eats too much, he drinks too much, he keeps company with those people. I saw him last night on Front Street, leaving some sort of loud concert at Nationwide Arena. I just don’t like the way he behaves, and I don’t trust any of the people in his company.” In order to lead spiritually balanced lives, I believe we want to avoid the mistake of assuming that we know the kind of people who belong in the company of Jesus. After all, he has included you and me, and we know, if we have any self-concept at all about ourselves that there is some question somewhere about our worthiness. Thank God inclusion is not a matter of our deserving, but of God’s graciousness and we can say, thank you, Jesus for loving us, calling us, embracing us, wanting us, transforming us, saving us, in spite of our selves. Who then are we to deny that same love, call, embrace, desire, and salvation to others? Can’t we trust the one who gave up his life for us to be wise enough and gracious enough to do the same for others? When we do not, we live out of balance and the grace we have received from God never becomes grace we share with others, and we are left like the children in the playground just sitting around doing not much of anything because we cannot agree on which game to play or which music to enjoy. That is a problem. But it is not a problem without a solution. After Jesus chastises the people for their lack of commitment and belief, he prays. He talks to God about those whose commitment is sure, and whose faith is strong. I believe he offers a prayer of intercession for them and for any who will come to him no matter their circumstances. “God”, he says. “Maybe the ones who think they are too wise to need God or too smart to need a savior will not listen yet. But I want to thank you now for those who have the humility to hear and believe. Thank you for those who know their need of you and me. Thank you for those who have opened their eyes and ears to all you have for them.” His prayer “of thanksgiving stands in sharp contrast to the deafness and blindness of ‘this generation’. He thanks God for having revealed the truth to infants, meaning the unprivileged, tax collectors, and sinners, the poor. The point is that IQ and intellect are not avenues to the knowledge of God. Revelation is God’s decision, and the divine preference is for ‘infants’.” (Texts for Preaching Year A, Westminster John Knox Press, 1995, p. 395). God’s preference for “infants” is of course symbolic, it has nothing to do with age, education or income, or gender, or geography. It has everything to do with our availability to God. Infants are so new to life that they have not yet grown too cynical or suspicious. They thrive when they are loved and fed and cared for by nurturing people. Infants have an openness and a receptiveness to what is around them. They are honest. They laugh and coo when they are happy, they frown and cry when they are sad. “Thank you God for sending me people who have the best qualities of infants”, Jesus said. “May they know me because our relationship is one in which we have chosen each other and because we are bound by your love for us. Thank you God, for the balance in their lives.” Part one of the solution is the prayer of Jesus. Part two of the solution is the invitation Jesus gives us. We can be glad that he never closes the door on people who have already grown cynical, distant, and suspicious. He knows that the believer and the one who is not quite sure can be thrown off balance. Remember the image of the jack-knifed truck? When our lives’ loads shift - too much to do and too little time, too many demands and too little support, too much stress, and not enough relief, and too much of what we do not need, and way too little of what we do need, we can overturn and crash. We get tired, we feel the weight of the world, and it is just too much. We can praise God that even when we are out of balance, we are not out of reach. It is at that moment that Jesus himself extends to us what has been called the great invitation. If we accept it we will find our balance. The invitation comes with a promise. “Come to me, in all your exhaustion and weariness. Come in your indecision and inability to give yourself totally. Come and find a place to rest. Eugene Peterson puts it 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.” (Eugene Peterson The Message. Navpress, 1993). Jesus promises that the rest we will receive will not be an occasion for sitting around and doing nothing. It is instead an occasion for finding balance and doing ministry. We will rest in the accomplishment of ministry with him. He is doing more than inviting us to listen to his teaching. He is really calling us to be his apprentices, to do what Jesus does, and by doing as he does. That is why he invites us to share his yoke and to learn from him. I know to speak of a yoke is these days may conjure up unpleasant images, of forced labor and of being treated more like an animal than as a human being. We rebel against the image, we are people after all, not beasts of burden. Then we remember, “the yoke is not one that Jesus imposes but one he wears. Commonly a yoke was a wooden instrument that yoked two oxen together and made them a team. Think of Jesus saying to us, ‘become my yoke mate, and learn how to pull the load by working beside me and watching how I do it. The heavy labor will seem lighter when you allow me to help you with it.’” (Matthew Hare, p. 129) Finally, Jesus can make the invitation because God has entrusted us to him, and he is ready and eager to embrace us. He urges us to place his yoke on our own shoulders. It’s easy he promises, and the burden is not so heavy because we carry it together. If we are going to be disciples of his we will join with him and learn from him and take on with joy, his work of compassion, generosity, justice, prayer, worship, and hospitality. We will see that as Christ as been entrusted to us, this church, our church has been entrusted to us. His yoke is easy, his burden light. It is no hard task to be present at Pridefest as we were last week, or to open ourselves up as we will this week when we balance Vacation Bible School, three AA groups, and a wedding. When we are disciples of his, we will find our spiritual balance in the one who has shown us where our problem lies, prayed for us, and promises us rest when we come to him. When we are disciples of his, joining him in the joy of ministry, we will find, whether at the wedding feast or the funeral dinner or all the places in between, that we will be filled and fed and embraced in the balancing and welcoming arms of Christ. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
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Broad
Street Christian Church
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