St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
July 8, 2023
Year A, Proper 9: The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
Psalm 45:11-18
Romans 7:15-25a
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
Yoked, Together
As you know, I preach just about every week, which means I almost always have a deadline looming – ready or not, and hopefully with God’s help, I have to come up with something to say.
And, that tight schedule means there is often not much time to look back and reflect on the past – especially at a church as busy – I mean, as active – as St. Thomas’.
Usually, I just turn the page from one Sunday to the next and get moving.
But, this week, maybe because of the slightly slower summer pace around here, I’ve been thinking back over the past couple of Sundays.
I’ve been looking back to the Sunday of Bishop Ihloff’s visitation when ten of our parishioners – some young and some, well, not so young – some who’ve been parishioners here for many years and others who’ve only been here for a few months – some who are “cradle Episcopalians” and some who are brand new to our branch of the Jesus Movement – ten of our parishioners kneeled or stood before the Bishop and reaffirmed that they really want to be part of this – they confirmed that they want to follow Jesus, here, together with all of us, with God’s help.
It was such a great day – the only thing better would’ve been if we had a Baptism – but maybe that would’ve been over the top, just too much.
But since Confirmation is closely related to Baptism, we all reaffirmed our Baptismal Covenant – promising to resist evil, to proclaim the Good News by word and example, to seek and serve Christ in all persons, to strive for justice and peace among all people – big and super-ambitious promises – promises that we can only hope to fulfill with God’s help.
What a service that was – a top ten Sunday, I’d say.
And then there was last week… when we heard the challenging, problematic, and downright disturbing story of the “Binding of Isaac.”
If you were here, I’m sure you’ll remember the story – Abraham hears God call him to sacrifice his son Isaac – Abraham and Sarah’s miracle child.
When Abraham brings Isaac to the place of sacrifice, poor Isaac looks around and sees everything is ready to go but, uh, there’s just one thing.
Isaac says, “The fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the offering?”
Isaac hasn’t caught on that he is the sacrifice – and why would that horrible idea ever occur to him, right?
Isaac knew that Abraham loved him – and he knew that God loved him, too.
At the last moment, Abraham hears an angel of the Lord command him to cancel the sacrifice of his son – and a ram is conveniently provided and substituted for Isaac, who lives on, and, as we heard today, eventually marries Rebekah.
After church last week and actually during the week, too, I heard from some of you who were disturbed by the Binding of Isaac – and it certainly bothers me, too.
God asking Abraham to make such a monstrous sacrifice just does not sound like the God of love.
And, as I’ve continued to reflect on the story, I’ve been struck by the fact that Abraham goes it alone. He does not tell anyone – certainly not Sarah and Isaac – he doesn’t tell anyone what he’s hearing – or thinks he’s hearing - from God.
And, although this particular story has a happy ending – the truth is that, even when we have the best of intentions, we often make our biggest mistakes – we often get ourselves into the worst trouble – we often simply fail – we often do the wrong thing - when we go it alone.
I know this. You know this.
We know this from hard experience.
And St. Paul knew it, too.
I love today’s lesson from Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Paul writes, “For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”
That’s such an accurate description of the human experience – the human condition.
Paul’s near-contemporary, the Roman poet Ovid, recognized the same dynamic. He wrote,
“I perceive what is better and approve of it, but I pursue what is worse.”
I don’t know if Ovid ever discovered a solution to this predicament, but Paul certainly did.
At the end of today’s lesson, Paul writes, “Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Paul recognized that, no matter our good intentions, no matter our determination to obey the rules, no matter our talents, if we go it alone we are likely to mess up and fail.
But, when we follow Jesus, when we submit to Jesus, then we are able to live abundant lives of love and service.
In today’s gospel lesson Jesus issues a call that is familiar to many of us – a call that is true for us. Jesus says:
“Come to me, all you that weary and 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.”
So many of us are so weary – burned out - from carrying heavy burdens – and, in large part, that weariness and heaviness comes from trying to go it alone.
To us who are just plain worn out from our worries and troubles, Jesus says, take my yoke.
And we don’t take and wear this yoke alone – but we are meant to wear the yoke of Christ together.
Actually, the truth is even better than that – Jesus himself wears the yoke with us and for us.
Jesus walks the road beside us – making the seemingly impossible possible right here at St. Thomas’ – making it possible for us to love our neighbor as our self – to seek and serve Christ in one another, even the people we don’t trust – to respect the dignity of every human being, even the people we don’t like one bit.
And so, while Abraham certainly offers us a powerful example of trusting God, no matter what, he also provides a model of what not to do.
The call to sacrifice his son Isaac was too heavy a burden to carry alone. It would have been wiser to share this with Sarah and with others – and, who knows, maybe, together, they would have heard God more clearly.
Our ten parishioners modeled a much better way, right here, just a few weeks ago.
During our Confirmation and Reaffirmation service they took on the yoke of Christ together, with all the rest of us in this holy herd cheering them on, promising to support them, pledging to support one another - with God’s help, always and only with God’s help.
So, before we rush on to the next thing, before I have to come up with next week’s sermon - let’s remember – let’s celebrate – that we are yoked, together.
We are yoked, together, with Christ.
Amen.
Posts
