Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

The text for today opens with Jesus using a metaphor to describe what is happening in the world of his day. He describes his “generation” as like children in the marketplace chastising passers-by for not wanting to dance to either of the tunes they play. The forces of this world will play a tune, happy or sad, you get to pick which you want to dance to. This world offers the illusion of control, but either way, we’re expected to dance to their tune. But when John the Baptist and Jesus insist on dancing to their own tune, the scorn of society is heaped on them. Jesus is telling his listeners, that we’re in a bad place, the unruly, unsupervised, idle children are playing the tune that we’re all expected to dance to. Most people cannot see the truth of our world. But, the truth will be proved right by the fruits of her actions.

The text then picks up with Jesus explaining why most people cannot see the truth and what can be done to remedy that. We have been told over and over again in today’s media that we are living in unprecedented times of division and violence. While I do not want to minimize the problems our world faces, they are real and the brokenness that stands at the foundation of these problems cannot be ignored. Yet, as Pastors, we have a long view of history. As we read Scripture, we see time after time where the world is deeply divided, where violence and suffering, brokenness and aimlessness appear to have won. Jesus himself complains about his current generation. If God will complain about a generation, then perhaps we ought to take a step back from all of the doomsday negativity about our unprecedented generation. The world has always been violent, the world has always been divided, people have always been at odds. This generation is no worse, and it is definitely no better. It might be that because of modern communication we are simply more aware. For better or worse, we are more connected. One of our jobs as Pastors is to help our congregations get past the self-righteous outrage and the fear. We must help our gathered communities get some perspective and gain some calm. We can do that because Jesus did. He looked at the violence and division in his age and answered it with the good news. It is what we must do too.

We have nothing to fear from the trials and tribulations of our current age. It too is like children hanging out in our favorite shopping places chiding us for refusing to dance to any of their tunes. Jesus points out that our generation too will not be satisfied regardless of how one expresses their piety, either austere like John, or open like Jesus. They will only be satisfied if we dance to their tune.

Jesus assures us that these children, the voices of violence and division, the voices of self-righteous outrage and anesthetizing consumerism are known by God for what they are: empty. In verse 25 Jesus goes onto to warn that even the wise and learned can be lead astray. With the populist feeling running through politics today, it is easy to stop and linger here and point out how dangerous it is to trust the so-called wise or learned. I would warn against the temptation to feed into the outrage machine. How many of us accept Jesus like children? The populist posture of the moral superiority of the “little man” betrays the good news that Jesus preaches. Even the “little man” must accept the good news like a little child. As Pastors, most of us have an education, it simply cannot be that education excludes people from abiding in the good news. We also have to be clear about the context of this passage. Jesus is talking about the learned religious men of his generation. Those who should have known better, but did not. In Jesus Christ, the good news has been revealed, and these words do not necessarily apply to all educated people today. As Pastors, we have an education and yet we are followers of Christ. It is not education that determines faithfulness or not after the revelation of God in the good news.

In verse 27, we get to one of the passages used by the early church to begin puzzling out the doctrine of the Trinity. Although Trinity Sunday has come and gone, here is a reasonable place to weave in the idea of an internally relational God if you are so inclined. Even if you are not interested in talking about Trinity, this is one place where Jesus gives us some insight into his relationship with the Father. The idea of knowing is a good way to get at the idea of internal relations without having to use the sometimes alienating jargon of Process theology. To know and be known by someone is to be internally related to that one. Knowing is a special process whereby a person or a thing that is external and separate from the knower becomes internal to the knower. By knowing you, you are a part of me. When you know me, I am part of you. In the process of knowing, what we think of as external becomes internal. In terms of human relationships, once I know another person, I am changed, different because of that interaction. In most cases, I’m not significantly changed, but in some cases, I can be. But either way, to know, is our way of saying what was once not part of me, is now in some way. Knowing then is a relation that helps to constitute who we are. Here would be a good place to talk about how knowing something or someone changed your life: a teacher, a spouse, a friend, even a stranger who made a difference. Knowing that person helps to constitute who we are, that person has had a lasting effect. Jesus offers a window into knowing (and therefore being related to) the Father, that is unique to him. No one really knows the Father, but by knowing Jesus, we can know and therefore be related to and constituted by both Father and Son.

This verse ends with what could look like gnosticism to the untrained reader. When read without the benefit of verse 28, it appears that Jesus is admitting that he has some secret knowledge about the Father that he will only reveal to a few chosen people. It is verse 28 that describes who can have this knowledge, “Come to me *all* you…take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” Who can learn from Jesus about the Father? Anyone who is willing to put down the yoke of oppression of this world and take up the yoke of God.

Most of us have never actually seen a yoke, let alone used one. A yoke is a wooden beam fastened onto a pair of oxen or other work animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do. There are some yokes are for individual animals. A plow or a cart is attached to the beam instead of directly to the animals giving them leverage, and giving the driver of the animals a way to steer. In Jesus’ day, yokes were also imperfect tools, in that the design often constricted the animal’s airway. The amount of work a team of animals could do was limited by their ability to get their breath while wearing their yoke. There is almost no comparison in today’s world. Most of us have never used a yoke. The one thing some us might have experience with, bit/reins, comparisons fail to get at what a yoke is. A yoke is usually used to hold working animals together so they can work together, pulling a heavy load, at the guidance of their master. (interoffice email comes to mind as a modern yoke, but it’s way too much of a stretch!)

Since we no longer use yokes, this is simply a place where the modern preacher has to earn our salary by stopping to explain the text. This is why they hire and pay for professional clergy because we are the ones who study, investigate, and help our congregations make sense of a Scripture that is sometimes confusing and often not self-evident. We simply cannot assume that anyone in our congregations actually knows what a yoke is. Many people, especially young people, actually hear the word “yolk,” like an egg yolk because “yoke” simply has never been said to them before.

Jesus will share this knowledge of the Father with everyone who wants to take his yoke and learn. Everyone is welcome. And everyone gets a yoke. One of the truths of existence that Jesus acknowledges here is that we all have burdens. We all have yokes that attach us. We are all driven by some master. Jesus asks us to carefully inspect our yokes. What are we yoked to? Who is driving our cart? Or, to draw it back to the metaphor Jesus opens with: what tune are you expected to dance to and who is playing it? Do you really want that particular yoke and that particular driver? Jesus implies that the yokes most of us have create an undue burden and constrict our breath. If you can tell a story about yourself or someone you know who has been transformed by his or her faith, this could be the illustration that holds your sermon together, a story that you can come back to over and over again as you explain the good news of Jesus’ words. Here is the good news: while we all have yokes, we can choose an easy yoke, with a light burden, the ability to breath freely, and a gentle master.

Here is where we get to have fun, good preacher. Here we get to tell the good news! Don’t miss the opportunity, even if you serve a congregation full of mature Christians. In vivid and loving detail tell them of God’s intimate concern for us, of God’s loving care for all creatures, of God’s willingness to love us just as we are and call us to the amazing things we can become. Remind them that in Jesus Christ, humanity is judged; the judgment is forgiveness; the sentence is new life; the terms of probation are an easy yoke and a light burden. Remind them that even in a generation that is wracked with violence and division, God’s judgment on our generation is forgiveness. Remind them that grace is free, but not cheap. Our job is to help other people set down the impossible and deadening yoke of this generation and pick up the freedom of Jesus Christ.