Jesus - the burden-bearer

Here's the sermon that I shared this morning at St Andrew’s Wickford:

Woe to you, for you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them.

Jesus is critical of those who load burdens on others, whether that is through greed and wickedness, the neglect of justice, a love of pride and prestige, or a multiplication of rules and regulations (Luke 11.42-46). Elsewhere he utters similar woes on any who put stumbling-blocks before the little ones who believe in him, saying it would be better to have a great millstone were fastened around your neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea than to do so. Woe to the world because of stumbling-blocks, he says, and woe to the one by whom the stumbling-block comes (Matthew 18.6 & 7).

Jesus has a beef with any who, by their words and actions, make faith more difficult for others to accept and practice.

As we reflect on these statements, it is important to remember that the people Jesus criticised were the religious leaders of his day. So, we need to respond to passages like these by asking ourselves what are some of the stumbling blocks to faith put before people today by the Church and what are the burdens that the Church loads on those who seek to follow?

Such things are not that hard to find and identify because they are main issues that those who don’t come to church commonly raise when speaking about the church: hypocrisy - that those who go to church say one thing but do another; a lack of hospitability – that a welcome is not genuinely extended to all; and bigotry – that certain groups of people are excluded simply because of who they are.

Jesus was so critical of those who load burdens on others and place stumbling blocks before others, because he was the great burden-bearer and the great remover of stumbling blocks.

‘Come to me,’ Jesus famously said, ‘all you that 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.’ (Matthew 11.28-30)

Then, on the cross, he takes the weight of the world onto his own shoulders and bears our sins and troubles – our burdens – that we might no longer do so.

As a result, we can go to him with any burden and ask that he bear with us and for us. There are some wonderful songs based on just that realisation:

“A rocky road, a heavy load
Got you wonderin' if you'll ever get over
Your journey's slow, your faith is low
And you wonder who will take the time
To get you back on your feet, turn your bitter to sweet
Jesus knows all the burdens you must bear
He will take time to care

Anybody got a heart that will not mend
Are you tryin' to live a life you can't defend
Are you in a battle that you just can't win
Bring it to Jesus
Anybody got a problem they can't solve
Anybody got a hole in their resolve
Remember in His hand the world revolves
Bring it to Jesus”

“What a Friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!”

“Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.”

“Are we weak and heavy-laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Saviour, still our refuge—
Take it to the Lord in prayer”

Let us avail ourselves constantly of the support that Jesus offers and so go to the Lord in prayer. But let us also remember that just as he calls for us not to load burdens on others or to place stumbling blocks in their way, so he also calls us to join him in bearing the burdens of others, as our own burdens are themselves borne by him. Amen.

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Philip Bailey - Bring It To Jesus.

Find rest for your souls

Here's the reflection on Matthew 11. 28 – 30 I shared during today's lunchtime Eucharist for St Martin-in-the-Fields:
A yoke is a wooden crosspiece that is fastened over the necks of two animals and attached to the plough or cart that they are to pull. It doesn’t sound like something which is light or easy to wear, so in what senses might Jesus be using this farming image to talk about rest for those who come to him?

Jesus would have been very familiar with ploughs and yokes as both are implements made by carpenters. Two animals, usually either oxen or donkeys, would wear the yoke and pull the plough guided from behind by the farmer. Their task was to break up the ground for sowing.

Jesus was speaking in a context where the Pharisees took the 613 commandments in the Torah – the Law of Moses – which were to do with all aspects of life - shaving, tattoos, clothing, work, food and drink, farming, money and so on – and multiplied these commandments by creating detailed instructions about the ways in which each of these commandments was to be kept. Keeping all of these additional rules was in deed a heavy burden for all who tried to do so.

Jesus, by contrast, taught that love was the fulfilling of the Law. Instead of keeping the endless detail of the regulations created by the Pharisees, Jesus is saying that we should simply love God, ourselves and our neighbours and that all the Law of Moses is actually designed to that end. This was liberating teaching which brought rest for those weighed down by the burden of trying to keep hundreds of commandments and thousands of additional regulations. On the basis of Jesus’ liberating teaching, St Augustine was able to write: ‘Love, and do what you will’ because when the ‘root of love be within’ there is nothing that can spring from that root, but that which is good.

I wonder whether you are ready to leave behind the heavy burden of rules and regulations in order to be accepted or justified and instead open your life to the liberating and restful law of love.

The oxen or donkeys undertaking the ploughing were guided by the farmer using the yoke. As they followed that guidance the yoke sat lightly on their shoulders and the ploughing proceeded apace. If they ignored the guidance of the farmer and pulled in different directions then the yoke would feel heavy and would chafe the neck causing sores or other injuries.

By using this image Jesus is arguing that we have choices about the way in which we live life. We can go off in our own direction pulling away from other people and from God but, when we do so, we are pulling against the way of life for which we have been designed and created. It is when we submit to God’s way of life that we find rest through being in the right place at the right time and living in the right way. When this happens we have a sense of everything coming together and fitting into place which is both profoundly satisfying and restful.

I wonder whether you are prepared to surrender control of your life to the one who created you in all your uniqueness and explore instead how to live in the way for which human beings were created.

Finally, there is the task to which we are called. This image of pairs of oxen ploughing with the use of a yoke fits closely with the task Jesus gave to his disciples when he sent them out in pairs to go to villages and towns ahead of him in order to prepare people for his arrival when he would sow among them the seed of the Word of God.

He is saying, therefore, that this task - the role of a disciple – although it seems challenging to take up, is actually hugely rewarding as well as being restful in the sense that we are doing God’s will and it is God who does the work, not us. We read in Luke 10, for example, that the seventy disciples Jesus sent out in pairs returned from their mission with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!”

I wonder whether you are prepared to undertake the challenging, yet strangely restful, task of a disciple of Jesus; that of preparing the ground so that others might receive the Word of God?

Jesus says: “Come to me, all you that 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.”

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The Byrds - Lay Down Your Weary Tune.