Take It Easy
This week we celebrated Independence Day so I thought you might enjoy these thoughts from an unknown author:
Only in America…can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.
Only in America…do banks leave their doors open but chain the pens to the counters.
Only in America…do we use answering machines to screen calls and then have call waiting so we won’t miss a call from someone we didn’t want to talk to in the first place.
Only in America…do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.
Only in America…do we use the word “politics” to describe the process so well: “Poli” in Latin meaning “many” and “tics” meaning “blood-sucking creatures.”
Is this a little harsh on our politicians? I didn’t think so!
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
It’s very difficult walking into the middle of a movie and understanding what the plot is and what is going on. Who the good guys are and who the bad ones are. You always knew in the old westerns because the bad guys wore black hats, and the good guys wore white, but it’s not that simple anymore. The same can be said for walking into the middle of a class or a lecture and being able to know exactly what the professor is trying to get across.
Our text this morning brings us into the middle of what some say is Jesus’ reaction to a question. “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” Not only is it an interesting question but it has come from the lips of John the Baptizer—the very same dude who recognized Jesus as the Messiah—baptized Him in the Jordan—witnessed the dove representing the Holy Spirit come and light on Him—and heard the voice of God—yes, that John.
But you see, John is in prison when he asks this question, or sends his disciples to ask this question. Obviously he has questions. Did he get it all wrong? Was Jesus not the One he thought He was?
Our text for this morning forms part of the answer to that question. Jesus compared His generation to spoiled children who are never satisfied because they neither reacted to John or Jesus but were indifferent to both which makes me wonder how Jesus would compare our generation.
He describes John the Baptist’s ministry and His own in vivid and contrasting metaphors. John’s, He said, was similar to a funeral—gloomy, sincere, stern. His own? Like a wedding. It’s a figure He frequently used as a token of the joy of Good News.
Like little children, the Pharisees were playing at religion, similar to those who played at funerals and weddings in the marketplace. For the Pharisees religion was about the best seat in the restaurant or theatre. For the Pharisees religion was about what they could get out of it—not what they might put into it.
I was thinking about my own generation this week. I’m a child of the late 60’s and early 70’s and I was influenced heavily by the music of that era. In the home where I grew up, we never knew there was such a thing as FM radio, until I reached my high school years anyway. AM radio reception wasn’t that great, there were only a few stations, and they played more commercials and the news than they did music. I listened to 45’s and 33’s on a cheap phonograph that had an even cheaper speaker.
The music that I listened to was from Motown, the Beach Boys, the Monkey’s (I know, you young people are saying, who), and the British invasion with the likes of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. We all really did want to live on a yellow submarine.
In high school my tastes started to change, and I discovered FM radio where they played more music and less talk. I was into groups like Three Dog Night, Deep Purple, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Chicago, Steve Miller, Cat Stevens, Bob Segar and the Alman Brothers.
I gave up my 45’s and 33’s for 8 tracks. Anyone remember 8 tracks. I had more cases to carry my 8 tracks than I did suitcases, and they were bigger. Eventually we went to cassettes, then CD’s, and now it’s Satellite Radio with any kind of music that you desire and commercial free.
And later in life my interests shifted to Tom Petty and a group that took the world by storm in the early 70’s, the Eagles. I wonder if when you saw the front of the bulletin, either the one sent to you Thursday or when you saw it this morning if you knew what my sermon title is?
Well, I’m standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona
and such a fine sight to see:
It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford
slowin’ down to take a look at me.
Come on, baby, don’t say maybe.
I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me.
We may lose and we may win, though we will never be here again.
So open up, I’m climbin in, and “Take It Easy.”
Common life with Jesus was like a wedding feast—He went where He was needed.
Though there are frequent references in the Scriptures to Jesus praying only a few of them are actually recorded in the Gospels. In verses 25-26 of our text this morning we find one of those rare gems.
Where Jesus speaks of “these things” He is probably referring to the nature of the Kingdom which was to be a spiritual reign of God in the hearts of Individuals—not a political realm as the Jewish leaders had expected. God has chosen to hide this mystery from the “wise and learned,” or the Pharisees and Scribes, because they wouldn’t receive it (Go from believing & behaving to beholding & becoming). Instead, God has chosen to reveal it to the “little children,” or the poor—the obscure—the teachable—the humble—the simple. According to Jesus, this was God’s pleasure. And in a very real sense, Jesus is God revealed.
I’m not exactly sure what Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey had in mind in 1972 when they wrote their hit song, Take It Easy, but I’d like to think that maybe they had Jesus in mind when they penned those last few lines. I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me. We may lose and we may win, though we will never be here again. So open up, I’m climbin in, and take it easy.
And this morning, we have one of the most beautiful passages in the entire Bible: “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, 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.”
Is anyone here this morning feeling weary and burdened? We all need rest don’t we? Sometimes that rest isn’t physical rest. It can be spiritual rest, or it can mean mental rest. It can be rest from the things trying to bring you down. Your job—your finances—your health—your living conditions—the news of the world we live in. In the Old Testament when God promised rest to His people, He was talking about giving them peace. Peace among themselves and peace from their neighbors.
This beautiful passage is an expression of Jesus’ Divine Nature = pure, unselfish, redemptive love.
In the book I’m currently reading, Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools, author Tyler Staton writes: “When we trust God with our worldview but not our current experience in the world, we are falling victim to the lure of control. How many of us are exhausted, overwhelmed, and chronically anxious because we’re trying to satisfy good desires by the wrong means?”
There’s a wonderful legend concerning the quiet years of Jesus, the years prior to His visible ministry. The legend claims that Jesus the carpenter was one of the master yoke makers in the Nazareth area. People would come from miles around for a yoke, hand carved and crafted by Jesus the son of Joseph.
When customers arrived with their team of oxen Jesus would spend considerable time measuring the team—their height—their width—the space between them—and the size of their shoulders. Within a week, the team would be brought back, and Jesus would carefully place the newly made yoke over their shoulders, watching for any rough places, smoothing out the edges and fitting them perfectly to this particular team of oxen.
That’s the yoke that Jesus invites us to take. Don’t be misled by the word, “easy,” since its root word in Greek speaks directly of the tailored made yokes: they were “well-fitting.”
If oxen wore a yoke that didn’t fit, they would develop sores and would balk at their work. Have you ever tried to walk a long distance in shoes that don’t fit?
The yoke Jesus invites us to take, the yoke that brings rest to our weary souls, is the one that is made exactly to our lives and our hearts. The yoke He invites us to wear fits us well—doesn’t rub us nor cause us to develop sore spirits and is designed for two. His yokes were always designed for two. And our yoke partner is none other than Christ Himself.
Running throughout the Scriptures from the beginning to the end (From Genesis to maps) is the theme that ours is a burden bearing Christ. He isn’t just a Lord whom we burden, and we do, but a Lord who actually solicits our burdens.
As He promised us in John’s Gospel: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
You may have heard me say this before, but I believe that it is important for us all to have a comfortable place to be alone with Jesus. The woods—the lake—a room in your house—your back porch—driving down the road—anywhere that you can be alone with the One who solicits your burdens; who invites you to come to Him; who takes away your pain and sorrow. Because my friends, I’m here to tell you, our liberty, our peace, our comfort; all come through being yoked with Christ.
“For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Take it easy, take it easy
Don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy
Lighten up while you still can
Don’t even try to understand
Just find a place to take your stand and take it easy.
Thanks be to God!
Eastman First Methodist Church 