Romans 7.19-25a; Matthew 11.16-19, 25-end; Reading taken from The Message paraphrase: Matthew 26-end
25-26 Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer: “Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. You’ve concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people. Yes, Father, that’s the way you like to work.”
27 Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly. “The Father has given me all these things to do and say. This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge. No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But I’m not keeping it to myself; I’m ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen.
28-30 “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.”
I want to begin by talking about how we are rewarded. Do you remember your school system for rewarding good behaviour? Were you rewarded
Our brains are hard wired to respond to rewards, and that’s used all the time. We get paid for working as adults and lots of jobs have bonuses for doing extra well. But rewards don’t just apply to useful purposeful work. We get rewarded for collecting points at the supermarket and for watching adverts by getting to see the TV programme that we actually wanted. Even the on-screen firework explosion
Here’s a story I read in the parish magazine which might help us think about this.
There once was a man who died and found himself at the Pearly Gates, facing St Peter. He asked “Er, how does this work? Is there something I have to do something before you let me?”
St Peter replied “Well, yes, you have to have enough points”
Oh, thought the man, that should be all right. “I have been a volunteer at the food bank for the last ten years, and I also help out at the Ark for homeless people. Does that count?”
“Yes,” said St Peter “That would give you one point”
“How many points do I need?” asked the man.
“A hundred, in total” replied St Peter.
“Oh, well, I have been a vicar for thirty years and in that time I’ve never had a proper holiday. Surely that gives me plenty of points!”
“You can have another point for that” agreed St Peter.
“Just one point?” said the man, dismayed. But at this moment someone else walked up to the Pearly Gates. The man recognised him, someone from his village who came to church twice a year, ran a friendly family business and was often smiling. This second person strolled straight into heaven, just waving as he walked past.
“Hey!” said the first man. “How comes that man doesn’t have to add up his points?”
“Oh”, said St Peter “He’s not playing that game!”
it’s just so easy to think that being a Christian works the same way as the rest of life – we clock up points to show how good and holy we are, and then we feel that we deserve a place in heaven, a spiritual reward for all our hard work.
But Jesus gives us another way – he says
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life”.
He welcomes us with healing, forgiveness, love and
But he doesn’t stop at the welcome - he invites us to respond. In all his interactions with people he invites them to follow him, to walk with him, to be changed by him. This isn’t about pleasing him, earning his respect or proving that we deserve a place in his team! It’s about living in his pattern of life and experiencing his closeness to God.
Do remember sports day races? Did you run in the three legged race, or the wheelbarrow race? Does it matter who your partner is? Is it better to have someone older or stronger? In Jesus’s own words, which you can see on the pew sheet, he invites us to take on his yoke, which would have been a familiar sight for people at the time. Two oxen would have been joined together by a yoke across their shoulders to pull a plough, often an older more experienced ox yoked with a younger one who would learn from them. I’ve chosen Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase The Message this morning to encourage us to hear Jesus’s words in a fresh way. Instead of using Jesus’s metaphor of a yoke, which few people have seen in today’s world, Peterson interprets Jesus’ words as “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.” Jesus tells us to walk with him and work with him – to rely on him and let him show us what to do.
I wonder when you have relied on doing something with someone else? Who can you think of who has taught you by being alongside you? I think the best teachers do this, showing by example how to do things. Learning to drive seems like one thing you can only do by having an experienced driver take you out. But maybe you can also think of people you admire, who have inspired you and made you want to be like them. That’s how Jesus leads. That’s the yoke he invites us to share with him.
The more we learn about Jesus, the more we copy him, the more we can experience his unforced rhythm of grace. But we have to let go of earning brownie points first. And if you are anything like me, you will be unlearning the reward system alongside of learning Jesus’ way for the whole of your life! Sometime it seems we can just glimpse the freedom Jesus offers us! But even that allows us to see there is a better way than everyone getting their just desserts. So may we encourage each other to love and grow! May even our wonky attempts to pass on the love that Jesus freely gives us be blessed and transformed by the Holy Spirit.
Amen