[Machine transcription]
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
In the Gospel reading today are the beautiful and perhaps familiar words of Jesus about
the easy yoke that he gives.
But the reading starts as a prayer of Jesus.
And then he turns back to the crowd he’s speaking to and kind of shifts gears into
the section about all who are labor and heavy laden coming to him. And then the part then
he talks about the yoke. All of this reading today follows a series of Jesus responding
to lots of questions about him being the Son of God, the Savior. And he uses some pretty
strong language in responding to the Pharisees who were opposing and challenging him. But
what did these words of Jesus mean to the crowd who heard him back then? What was this
heavy laden yoke that they were bearing? Well, it’s a couple of things, I think, that
for both the Jews and the non-Jews who were in the crowd listening to him, there
was the yoke of oppression of the Roman Empire that controlled much of the
government and travel and commerce of the area. There was this yoke of heavy
taxation, and overbearing civil laws for them to live by. And for the Jews who
heard Jesus, there was also the heavy laden yoke of the law that was imposed
on them by the religious leaders, by the Pharisees. There were as many as
613 laws that they were heavy-laden with
that they were supposed to follow.
Laws that the Pharisees were imposing on them.
And the people were probably well aware
that they weren’t able to keep all of those laws.
And the religious leaders made sure
that they were reminded of this yoke,
that they were supposed to obey all of these laws. In fact, the first reading,
the very first verse of the reading, Jesus thanks the Father for hiding things
from the wise and understanding and revealing them to little children. Well,
he’s talking about the Pharisees and that the truth of God’s grace apart
apart from the law, was being hidden from them.
And God was revealing it to the people
that had the yoke of following that law.
People needing that grace.
His little children.
And Jesus then offers these little children
a lighter and easier yoke.
one that’s not like the oppressive laws being imposed on them. He’s giving them a
yoke that gives them rest, not only from the cares of the oppressing world that
they live in, but also rest from the laws that they can’t keep. It’s a yoke that
gives rest for their souls. And it’s God the Father’s gracious will that this
happens. And it’s His will for us today. Jesus knows of our yoke too. He knows of
your yoke. He knows that you can be heavy-laden with the oppressing things
of this world. The yoke of finances and relationships or career uncertainty. The
The yoke of feeling stuck in situations
that you don’t have any control over.
The yoke of feeling the need
to maintain a certain image
professionally or even physically.
Or the yoke of concern over grades
or making the cut of a team
or some organization.
Or just the yoke of failure
here in your life.
And lately, the yoke of worry
over safety and health
in a time of pandemic
and civil unrest.
These yokes and more
that you’re carrying right now,
they can leave you feeling heavy-laden
as our reading says.
And I like some other translations
of this passage too
that use the words like tired
or exhausted.
And isn’t that what it’s like
to carry a heavy yoke in life?
To carry a heavy burden?
It makes you tired and exhausted
from having this yoke on you
all the time.
But wait, there is more, okay?
Okay?
There’s more yoke.
There’s also the yoke of sin.
Of you not being able to keep the laws and commands of God.
Of failing to carry the yoke of loving God above all things.
And failing to carry the yoke of loving others as yourself.
The sins that you’ve done to others
can be a heavy-laden yoke on your heart
and on your soul,
leaving you in shame and guilt.
But Jesus speaks to His heavy-laden,
tired, and exhausted children today.
He speaks to you.
He speaks to the ones who realize they can’t do anything about the burden of the yoke that they’re bearing in life.
Especially the yoke of sin.
Because that burden can only be lifted by God.
And the rest that you want for your soul can only come from Jesus.
Jesus, the yoke of sin and worry and fear in life can be taken away by Jesus.
And that’s what He’s done.
Not only taking that yoke, but giving you an easier one.
And I don’t want you to get out of this today just coming out of it feeling good about having
hope and relief from the burdens or problems in your life.
That’s a good thing,
but this isn’t just about life being
all Skittle and unicorns in life, okay?
More so, I want you to know the relief
and rest from the burden of sin
that Jesus gives to us
in the bearing of the yoke of sin
that He’s done for us on the cross.
And now, offering the easy yoke
of forgiveness. See, it’s more than a yoke to just make you feel better about your
problems in life, but Jesus gives a yoke to relieve the burden of your sin. That
yoke Jesus gives is for your rest, for the rest for your soul. Now something
about about yokes. In Jesus’ time, yokes were for animals and they were made out
wood, okay, and the yoke maker would take great care in measuring the animals, the
individual animals that were going to be carrying this yoke because they’re all
different, they’re all different sizes, and he would then make a rough version of
that yoke and put it on the animal and then make adjustments on it until it fit
comfortably so that the animal wouldn’t be bothered by it when it’s
working. In fact, the word in the reading today for easy, for an easier yoke,
translated, refers to the the yoke being comfortable or useful, meaning that this
yoke was just right for this animal. That would be an easy yoke to carry. It’s not
hurting me it’s not really burdening me down and that’s the easy yoke that Jesus
gives for us there’s a legend about Jesus before he started his ministry
work we know from the scriptures that he was a a carpenter you know like like his
father and the legend is that he made wooden yokes as part of his carpentry
work and that his use of this illustration in the reading today is that he makes a yoke
for us and he would understand of making it to fit us well and to be an easy yoke that’s
comfortable and fits us just right.
Well, that part is legend about Jesus being a yoke maker.
Maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t, I don’t know, but he indeed make a yoke for us and has given
it to us, an easy, comfortable yoke, not by putting wood together to make a physical yoke,
but by being nailed to another piece of wood, the cross.
Taking that yoke upon Himself to give us the easy yoke of forgiveness that fits us just
Just right for the sins that we’ve done, for our situation and problems in life, that this
is God’s work for us and not something that we’re able to do.
We can’t take that yoke off, but Jesus can and does.
We can’t take it off.
We’re so tired and exhausted from carrying it, Jesus takes it for us.
And that yoke of Jesus then really isn’t a burden at all.
Like he says, it’s easy.
It’s a burden of rest.
It’s a hidden thing that we receive as his children.
God’s gracious will of giving that to us.
Now, times like these that we’re living in today,
they can really bring on burdens to us, can’t they?
Yeah, we can really feel that right now.
It’s a crazy time and at this weekend here of Independence Day in our nation, we maybe
don’t feel so independent because we’re worried and fearful over just about everything
going on in the world.
world, we really feel heavy, laden, tired, and exhausted, worried, and fearful.
And we don’t have to carry that yoke.
You shouldn’t have to carry that yoke.
Let Jesus take it.
Let Jesus take the worry, the fear of this world to relieve you of that, to
give you rest, and to take the yoke of your sin, to give you the easy yoke of
forgiveness. Another thing about a yoke, how is it that Jesus makes it an easy
yoke. A yoke is usually for two animals, not just for one, but for two that are
that are carrying this double-sided yoke. It’s easy to see then a yoke being easy
to bear when Jesus is with us carrying it for us. Knowing that Jesus is carrying
the yoke that we’re heavy-laden with, knowing that He is carrying it too, makes
makes it a little easier, I think, to carry that.
So for those of you who are tired
and exhausted from the burden of your sin,
may you know the easy yoke
and rest for your soul
that Jesus gives to you,
an easy yoke of forgiveness.
And may that easy yoke then
relieve the worry and fear
over the situations of our world today.
Amen.
Now may the peace of God,
which passes all understanding,
keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
