Library
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Slow Down You Move To Fast
By Rev. Jerry Herships
Matthew 11:28-30
28“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.
Our computer died this week. Screen went out. Took it to Best Buy and they told me a new screen would be about a thousand bucks. THAT wasn’t going to happen. Luckily, I got a new Netbooks computer that I was able to buy with points saved up on my AmEx. So we get it THE SAME DAY that the other computer dies. Now the idea of me getting this computer was so that I could do my sermons on this one and Hudson and Laura could use the other one. We had three people vying for the laptop. We also have a desk top that was given to us but was from a business that was upgrading theirs and giving their old ones away. It is awesome but doesn’t have anything on it.
So now we are trying to use these computers. The Netbook has MSword on it but is so small it doesn’t have a CD-ROM so we couldn’t insert the disc to download the printer program. We have a disc drive for the upstairs computer, but can’t find the disc. We would just download the software onto it from the internet, but we don’t have internet for the big computer. We do have the printer software loaded onto the old laptop, but the screen is dead. To get this sermon in my hands, I had to write it on the Netbook and then it send to my work email from my Gmail account, open it at work and use the printer from there. Hudson had to do his work, use a thumb drive, take that to school and then print it from there.
Explain to me how technology is making our lives easier?
We are all moving so fast. Speed seems many times to be more important than accuracy. It is easy to get exhausted in today’s world.
I would love to say that church is making things easier, but often that is not the case. Now for me, I get it. I signed on for this gig. But often times I see the volunteer leaders running a million miles an hour as well. Between committees and classes they are taking and classes they are teaching and reports they are writing and services and concerts and workshops and lecture series they are attending, they’re beat. What’s worse is I don’t know what to do about it. I thought about doing a class or seminar or workshop or lecture series on being over committed, but….well I think you see the problem. THAT’S JUST ONE MORE THING TO DO.
I wonder what Jesus thinks of our crazy schedules. As I read this passage, I can’t help but think Jesus is saying, “I know how crazy your world is. Take a second. Rest. My way is simple…but not easy.”
As we learned last week, over and over again the Bible keeps telling us that being in relationship with God and pleasing God and doing what God desires is not about rules and commandments. It is not about obeying complicated dogma. It is about loving God and loving others as yourself….which means you have to love yourself, too.
In Jesus’ day there were Rabbi’s who had an understanding of the Torah. The Torah was the first five books of the Hebrew bible. It was how they understood their holy book. A community turned to the resident Rabbi to help interpret the Torah. If you followed a certain Rabbi, you followed his interpretation of scripture and that synagogue understanding of the writings.
We still do that today. You attend AfterHours, at least in part, because you understand/agree with/like my interpretation of the Bible and like how we understand what’s important in the writings of this book. People change churches all the time because they don’t like the way the Pastor understands scripture. I guarantee we look at scripture different from many Baptist churches, many Lutheran churches and probably even some other Methodist churches.
Now in Jesus’ time, to follow the interpretation of a Rabbi, you followed what was called his “Yoke.” Rob Bell talks at length about this in his book Velvet Elvis. A Yoke was how a rabbi interpreted or understood the scripture. It was how he understood how it is you joyously obey the Torah. Remember, in Judaism, there are 613 commands, mitzvoth, given by God in the Torah. It could get pretty complicated. Sometimes these commands would come in conflict with each other. It was often in these moments that the community would turn to the Rabbi to help interpret the right action to take.
In the chapter following this passage we see two examples of Jesus’ “yoke” or understanding of the Bible and how he values human need over Sabbath observance. This makes sense because Matthew wants to stress Jesus with his teachings.
In this passage we are learning that Jesus is telling the crowd, his way is not complicated. It is simple…and what is Jesus’ yoke? He is asked in chapter 22 by the Pharisees who want to test him by asking his interpretation, his “yoke,” on how to joyously obey the Torah? They ask him what the greatest commandment is. Jesus gives them Deuteronomy. 6:5 - Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. Then he says, “And the second is like the first. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” We know that shows up in the Bible seven other times. It is interesting to note that they did not ask what the second was. Jesus offered that up himself. I believe this is because he sees them as so intertwined he didn’t want them to miss it.
So what we are seeing is Jesus stating time and time again that, it is how we treat each other, that determines how we are living out the life God wants us to live.
Life can get so busy and so complicated. Jesus is telling us it doesn’t have to be. Remember what is truly important. Remember what matters to God and Remember that it is an easy yoke.
You remembered what was important last week when many of you came and made lunches BEFORE the service last Sunday. We did it again today.
I was down in Civic Center Park last Tuesday with Paul Howard who runs Redemption Fellowship of Trinity United Methodist church downtown. Paul has a heart for the homeless and those who have hit a rough patch. Paul and I went down there with the intention of handing out the sandwiches, having a communion service and then packing up our stuff and heading out. God had a different plan. After we had set-up our folding table with a cross and a chalice of juice and a loaf of bread, we started handing out sandwiches. We also handed out some bagels and apples that got donated from some of you here at AfterHours. We never did a communion service, but make no mistake, we had communion.
“Communion" is a translation of the Greek koinōnía (κοινωνία). The word, κοινωνία, is commonly translated "fellowship" in other contexts. That’s what we had. Paul and I agreed that even if we don’t do a communion service, we would still set up the table. We love the idea that over time, the homeless in that park will know that when they come to the Lords Table…they will be fed.
I had my own moment of getting clear with my own yoke while I was down there. Towards the end of our time, as we were packing up, a gentleman came up to me and asked what I was going to do with the juice that was in the cup. I asked him if he wanted it and he said yes. For an instant my old Catholic roots rose up and I thought, “should I do this?” It wasn’t even consecrated but just the idea of the juice going from the Chalice into a common water bottle gave me pause but that vanished pretty quickly as I started to pour. I had to fight back tears as I poured the juice from the chalice into his water bottle held by his cold hands. This was as much communion as anything I had ever been a part of. This might not have been the traditional way of getting rid of the juice from the chalice but if I was to follow Jesus’ yoke, I realized it was putting human need over traditional orthodoxy. It gave me chills. As you do to the least of my brothers…
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I can get bogged down in whether I am doing enough. Here is what I have to constantly remind myself: Am I loving other people? Am I loving myself? Am I loving God?
Then I’m doing enough.
Slow down…you move too fast. Rest in God and you will find rest for your souls. Jesus’ yoke is easy and his burden light.