“It’s Simple”

(Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30)

“But to what will I compare this generation?  It is like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’  For John came neither eating or drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’  Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”  …

At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.  All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one know the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are 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.”

                As I have prepared to preach on these verses, I was reminded of one of my favorite authors, Wendell Berry.  And I’ll tell you the twisted path that brought me back to him today. 

Now, some of you will remember my mentor, Dr. Van Bogard Dunn.  He came to Peninsula a lot of years ago and sat with us and preached to us on a Sunday morning.  Bogie was the wisest person I have ever known.  He died about 30 years ago, but his writings, his teaching, his very presence guides me everytime I presume to stand in the pulpit and have the nerve to preach. 

Bogie, as we all called him, was the Dean of the Methodist Theological School in Delaware, Ohio.  He cared deeply about us students and how we took ourselves out into churches.  We’ve all probably experienced preachers who can be a bit arrogant, placing themselves above the wise folks in their congregations and the people out in the world.  That’s not only annoying, but it is one of the reasons church and Christianity has gotten a bad name. 

Bogie was the opposite.  I remember when I was a seminary student.  We who were in internships came together at seminary with our lay people.  Bogie was the guy who was talking with us all, sitting with church people along with us, their student pastors.  He navigated their very real concerns about their students, their anger with their wet-behind-the-ears students coming in thinking they knew it all.  But they had Biblical questions that their practice preachers did not have the experience or depth to handle.  I knew at that moment that I had witnessed a master at work, a faithful person, a professional, one who was committed to God and the church and, just, an amazing preacher.  I wanted to be like him.

                Well, I and the rest of his students will never reach that level, but we’ll not give up trying.  Bogie was the one who introduced me to Wendell Berry, a wonderful writer, poet, professor and ecologist.  After some time in academia, Wendell returned to being a farmer in Kentucky where he grew up.  He works his farm with a team of horses, and almost everything is accomplished with attention to preserving the earth. All this while still writing and inspiring.

                You can see that I am one big fan of both these guys, and they have been absolutely formative in my life.

                So, when I saw Wendell Berry referred to in the Christian Century article for the lectionary reading from Matthew this week, I had to pull out my notes from the study that Bogie did with us preachers every January.  This one was when we read the Gospel of Matthew together in 1991.  Of course, a quote from Wendell appeared in those very notes. 

                So, that’s been my guidance in approaching this morning’s reading, particularly the last few verses in which Jesus is thanking God that the wisdom that has been being discussed throughout this section of Matthew has been “hidden from the wise and intelligent and revealed, rather, to the new ones in the faith, the children, the infants.”  The witness that we’re hearing is that God has been revealed by Jesus, and Jesus is revealed only by God. 

                Lest any of us think that we are experts in interpreting scripture or that we know it all about what’s in the Bible, we need to go back to this text, we need to get our feet back on the ground and our heads back to regular size rather than swollen with our own egotistical thoughts.  Neither Bogie nor Wendell would let us get away with that.

                And all of that brings us to the section in today’s reading that is probably quite familiar to many of us, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me (says Jesus); 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.”

                Take a moment and take this in, for it is really the polar opposite of what we often busy ourselves with when we think about church and faith and being disciples.  In fact, I think last week I discussed the cost of discipleship, the seriousness of following Jesus along the way of the cross.  Now, here we are with this companion message. 

By the way, what I’m pointing out to you here is one of the amazing parts of interpreting scripture through preaching.  The preacher must pay attention to her congregation’s needs.  There are times when folks need to be provoked, challenged and energized for the work of the Kingdom.  That’s when we preach these messages that can be thought of as prophetic, as pushing us out of our comfort zones into a place where we look hard at our lives and, hopefully, make changes for the better. 

…And there are times when the congregation is weary and taking everything onto their own shoulders.  That’s when they need to hear today’s text, “Come to me all who are weary, and I will give you rest.”

                Perhaps the preacher, that would be me, believes the congregation is mature enough to hear both the messages: “We’ve got work to do, people.  Jesus calls us to the work of the Kingdom!”  AND, if you’re weary and overburdened, come to Jesus who is gentle and humble and will give you rest.

                You see, it’s never either/or.  Always we listeners are in different places with different needs.  Sometimes folks are all stuck in one rut or the other.  We’re all sitting somewhere on the spectrum between “get off your duffs and work for peace and justice and the Kingdom of God” and the other end when you must hear, “Take care of yourselves and relax and let God heal you.”  Okay, now we’re back to this morning’s text after we took that little side trip. 

                Back to Bogie.  I’ve talked about him here over the years and made him famous for the way he introduced his listeners to what it’s like to live in the Jesus House.  That is a place, an ideal where we dedicate our lives to caring for one another and for all God’s people. That’s the Jesus House.  It’s where all are welcome, regardless of color, sexuality, religion, vocation, age, nation or race, and it’s where hospitality is practiced daily with a special helping of love.  That’s what it’s like to live in the Jesus House.  In the Jesus House we all take responsibility for the work.  So, that means looking after the children and the animals, caring for the property and for the Earth and sharing the mundane tasks that must be done to keep life going.  No one’s work is more important than another’s in the Jesus House. 

                So, here’s my quote from my Bogie notes on today’s text from long ago: “Those who do the work of the house are not bowed down because of anxiety.  We’re not burned out because this is not work for us.”  Further, “There is something healing about rest in the Jesus House.  Outside the house we desperately need rest and we just can’t get it.  We toss and turn and fuss and our minds are racing.”  (Can you all relate to this?)

                …Wendell Berry tells an excellent story in one of his books.  He has taken his little granddaughter with him to deliver something for someone.  He is driving the wagon pulled by his team of work horses, and this whole thing has taken longer than it was supposed to.  It’s getting cold on the way home, and he is fussing, thinking his little companion is feeling cold and tired and miserable. So, his mind is going, and he’s trying to get the team to step it up, wishing he had done things differently.  Pretty soon, the little girl snuggles against Wendell’s shoulder and said, “Wendell, isn’t this fun?”

                The question that occurs to me is this: “Are we having fun yet in the Jesus House, or are we fussing and filled with anxiety all the time and looking for someone or something to blame for our feelings of emptiness and anxiety?”

                …Chad Martin is the guy who wrote about our text in the issue of the Christian Century that I referred to earlier.  He’s described as a carpenter, a dabbling farmer and the executive director of a non-profit housing project in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  Nothing is said about a theology degree, but he is definitely preaching to us preachers.  Chad is clearly talking about the work of the Jesus House when he quotes Wendell Berry’s poem from A Timbered Choir.   

                It says,

“Be thankful and repay

Growth with good work and care. 

Work done in gratitude,

Kindly, and well, is prayer.”

                Then Chad deals with what I think is the question of what it takes to belong and to be a full participant in the Jesus House (though he doesn’t use Bogie’s language, it’s what he means, I’m sure).  Chad brings his knowledge of Wendell Berry’s works to us readers.  My favorite writings of Wendell Berry’s are his novels: stories of the several generations of folks living in the fictional little town of Port William, Kentucky.  Wendell writes the voice of Andy Catlett, probably that’s the character Berry most identifies with. 

So, there’s a fencerow that needs repair, and Andy’s student helper hasn’t gotten the lesson about the work.

                “Now,” says Andy, “we’re practicing the art of loading brush.  It is a fundamental art.  An indispensable art.  Now, I know about your ‘fine arts,’ your music and literature and all that—I’ve been to school too—and I’m telling you they’re optional.  The art of loading brush is not optional.”  And I would suggest to you that in our language today, the work of the Jesus House is not optional.

                Chad goes on to say how he has let go of his bigger, better paying job so that he could do the work that is less stressful, less anxiety producing, work that he is able to enjoy.  Even the work that we have chosen to do, for example, putting the parsonage to the rights so it can be rented, there is a way of walking and working in the world that is less about striving, less about misery and more about gratitude.  And this is worth discovering because as Jesus has told us, he is gentle and humble in heart, and in him, we will find rest for our souls—in the Jesus House.

                And so, the message today is, “It’s simple.”  Don’t complicate it.  Don’t carry around burdens that break you down.  If you are “shoulding” on yourself, find a way to do what you can and want in a loving way, in a grateful way, all in the service of the Jesus House.

                Final example: Bogie told a story of when 2 of his grandchildren were babies, and he and his wife, Gerry, were visiting them.  The women were going out to do something that was important, and Bogie was left to tend to these little toddler twins.  At first he was thinking, “I was going to use this time to work on this speaking engagement I have coming up.”  Then he realized that he could stay in the moment with these little children and that was the most important thing for him to do right then.  I always try to keep that in mind when, somehow, I think there’s something more important to do than tend to the work of the Jesus House.  Jesus reminds us that his yoke is easy and his burden is light.  Let’s learn from him.  Amen.  

---