Interdependence Day

Karen Karpow

Danbury United Methodist Church

July 3, 2011

Interdependence Day

Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given= to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. Ephesians 6.1

The movie= Life of Brian is about a man who w= as born on the same night as Jesus, and right next door. There is a scene in which Brian is walking through town and passes a group of lepers begging for alms. One latches on to Brian and follow= s him through the streets, trying to bargain for some charity.

&nbs= p;

All right, sir. My final offer: &nbs=
p;Half a shekel for an old ex-leper.

               Did you say EX-leper?

That's=
 right, sir.  16 years behind =
the bell, and proud of it, sir.

               Well, what happened?

Oh, cu=
red, sir.

               Cured?

Yes, s=
ir, a…miracle sir, God bless you.

               Well, who cured you?

Jesus =
did, sir.  I was hopping along=
, minding my own business.  Al=
l of a sudden, up he comes, cures me. &nbs=
p;One minute I'm a leper with a trade, next minute my livelihood gon=
e, not so much as a by your leave ... [Bloomin’] do-gooder.

        &=
nbsp;   Why don't you go and tell him that you want to be =
a leper again?

Ah, I =
could do that, sir.  Yeah, I c=
ould do that, I suppose.  What=
 I was thinking was I was going to ask him if he could make me a bit lame i=
n one leg during the middle of the week. &=
nbsp;Y'know, something beggable, but not leprosy, which is a pain in=
 the [you-know-what] to be blunt, excuse my French sir, but...

               (Brian gives him a coin.)  T=
here you are.

Thank =
you, sir, thank... (Looks down)  Half a dinari for me [bloomin’] life story?!               There's no pleasing some people.
That's=
 just what Jesus said, sir. 

&nbs=
p;

Indeed,
there’s just no pleasing some people.  In today’s scripture reading=
, that
is one of the responses we see to the invitation to be part of the Kingdom of God.  

&nbs=
p;

Some people refuse to be satisfied, and Jesus describes such
contrary people in these verses: =
 

=
 

¹⁶“But to what will I com=
pare
this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and callin=
g to
one another,

¹⁷‘We
played the flute for you, and you did not dance;

we wailed, and you did not mourn.’

¹⁸For John came neither eating =
nor drinking,
and they say, ‘He has a demon’; ¹⁹t=
he
Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton a=
nd a
drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’<=
/p>

&nbs=
p;

Jesus compares “this
generation” to children who refuse to play with each other.  A flute and dancing are appropriate for a wedding. =
; Wailing and mourning are appropr=
iate
for a funeral.  Whethe=
r the
game is happy (weddings) or sad (funerals), the children refuse to play.

 

As eviden=
ce,
Jesus compares people’s reactions to John the Baptist to their reacti=
ons
to him.  John was too holy; Je=
sus
isn’t holy enough!  John=
 lived
a harsh, disciplined, ascetic life in the desert, wearing scratchy rags and
eating bugs.  Few people would=
 want
to live like John, or listen to his fire and brimstone preaching.  He was arrested and later beheaded
because he gave offense to King Herod's family, but he surely offended othe=
rs
as well.  What did peo=
ple say
of him?  “He has a demon.” 

 

While Joh=
n looks
like a religious fanatic, Jesus appears to be a libertine.  He is not as fastidious as some
regarding his diet.  For him,=
 every
meal is a party, as long as everyone is invited.  He heals on the Sabbath.&nb=
sp; His disciples are not scrupulous=
 in
their observance of the law, either, and he defends them.  Even worse is his association wi=
th
(and apparent approval of) tax collectors and sinners.  And then there is Jesus’ b=
latant
disrespect for scribes and Pharisees, the keepers of the law.  Compounding the problem, Jesus
attracts great crowds, tempting them to join him in his folly.

 

John and
Jesus.  They could hardly be m=
ore
different, but they were both still rejected by nearly everyone.  Refusing to be satisfied:  this is one of the ways people mig=
ht
react to an encounter with the Holy. 
If we can find enough things to criticize, then we don’t have =
to
take the demands seriously.  J=
ohn
calls people to repentance; Jesus calls people to radical love.  Both are hard.  Do you blame people for finding
fault?   

&nbs=
p;

Jesus the=
n tells
about a second reaction.  

 

“I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and e=
arth,
because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and =
have
revealed them to infants.”

&nbs=
p;

This isn&=
#8217;t
arbitrary.  Jesus isn’t
condemning smart people.  Rath=
er, it’s
an observation:  those who tru=
st in
their own knowledge, power, charm, or wealth tend to be unreceptive regardi=
ng
things they don’t control. 
Pride gets in the way.  And
it’s understandable:  so=
 much
of achievement is based on our effort.   But there are some
things—including the most important thing—that don’t work
that way.  

 

God canno=
t be
achieved.  <=
/p>

&nbs=
p;

Stephen H=
awking
has been in the news lately because of some comments he made that are, at t=
heir
heart, religious.  For=
 many
years now, Hawking has been celebrated as a great scientist.  His story is especially compelli=
ng,
because he has a disease that left him paralyzed.  He has done amazing scientific wor=
k in
spite of his disability.  When
Hawking speaks, people tend to listen.  In
an interview on May 15, he said, “I regard the brain as a comp=
uter
which will stop working when its components fail.  There is no heaven or afterlife for
broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the
dark.”

&nbs=
p;

Harsh wor=
ds.  I am sure that Mr. Hawking would c=
all me
a fool, because I believe that God loves everybody, even those who don̵=
7;t
believe God exists.  But God d=
oes
not force that love on those who aren’t interested.  Those who believe they are respons=
ible
for their own salvation—through military might, political power,
intellectual prowess, or personal magnetism—have no need of the
comforting arms of Jesus.  God=
 will
not trouble them with heaven’s gifts.  

&nbs=
p;

But what =
about
the rest of us?  What if we wa=
nt
those gifts?  Jesus says,=


&nbs=
p;

²⁸“Come to me, all you th=
at are
weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ^᥿=
9;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. ^{30 For
my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”}

&nbs=
p;

A yoke is=
 a tool
for pulling or carrying a burden.  It
might be a plow, or a couple of buckets of water—or family problems,
unemployment, bad health, rejection, grief.  Jesus does not propose that we go
yoke-less—in fact, that is impossible.  All of us serve something or someo=
ne, all
of us carry burdens, wearing some yoke or other.  Rather, Jesus suggests that we acc=
ept
his yoke—that we let him help us carry our burdens.  

 

JesusR=
17;
father Joseph was a carpenter, and he would have trained Jesus in the trade=
.   Among other things, the carp=
enters
of that day made yokes.  Ther=
e is a
legend that Jesus made the best ox-yokes in all of G=
alilee!  Much depended on the skill =
of the
carpenter.  A yoke mad=
e by a
bad carpenter would rub and chafe.  Oxen
wearing a bad yoke would be miserable by the end of the day.  But a good carpenter would tailo=
r the
yoke to fit the oxen, and would carefully polish the finish until it was
smooth.  A good carpen=
ter
would make the yoke strong enough to last, but not an ounce heavier than
necessary.  A well-cra=
fted
yoke was a blessing to the oxen. 

&nbs=
p;

A yoke of=
ten
joins two oxen together to work as a team.  When Jesus invites us to take hi=
s yoke
and to learn from him, he is inviting us to join him in harness, to allow h=
im
to take the lead.  We can let =
him help
us through difficult places.  =
He can
show us how it is done.  Jesus will pull his share of the load, and th=
en
some.

 

Many bles=
sings
await those who commit their lives to Jesus.  One of the great blessings is th=
at
Jesus has crafted yokes especially tailored for each of us.  Another of the great blessings is
that, when we take his yoke upon our shoulders, we can be assured that he w=
ill
be with us wherever we go—helping us, encouraging us, loving us. =
; 

 

Jesus doe=
s not
invite us to the lay-about rest of a couch in front of the TV, but to the d=
iscipleship
rest of a purposeful life.  <=
/span>He
does not promise clock-watchers an early quitting time, but instead offers
disciples energy, vision, and purpose.  Jesus offers not freedom from
work, but freedom from pointless labor.&nb=
sp;
In step with Jesus, we have something important to do, something that
demands our all, summons forth the best that is in us.  

&nbs=
p;

When Jesus
promises rest, he is promising the kind of settled, centered spirit that co=
mes
to those who know that God is with them.  But there’s a catch.  We have to let go of all our own
agendas, our own plans, our own ideas about how things are supposed to be.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>  We have to surrender to God’s
plans.  That is the price of p=
eace.  Two oxen can’t plow a field u=
nless
one follows the other’s lead. 
It is the same way for us. 
If we want that peace, we have to let go of having our own way.=


 

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-=
30

 

¹⁶“But=
 to
what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the
marketplaces and calling to one another,

¹⁷‘We played the flute fo=
r you,
and you did not dance;

we wailed, and you did not mourn.’

^18᥿=
9;For John came neither eating nor drinking, and t=
hey
say, ‘He has a demon’; ¹⁹the Son of=
 Man
came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunka=
rd,
a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by =
her
deeds.”

 

²⁵At that time Jesus said, R=
20;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;=
 ²⁶yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. ²⁷⁼All
things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son
except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to
whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

²⁸“Come to me, all you th=
at are
weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ^᥿=
9;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. ^{30 For
my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”}

 

&nbs=
p;