Lectionary 14A (Sexto domingo después de Pentecostés)

Mateo 11:16-19, 25-30

I preached this sermon in the Spanish service; the English translation is below. 

Oremos…

Sean gratos los dichos de mi boca y las meditaciones de nuestros corazones delante de ti, oh Jehovah, Roca mía y Redentor mío. Amén. (Salmos19:14 RVA)

Cuando nos encontramos con Jesús en el Evangelio de hoy, él habia estado enseñando. Primero, escuchamos su Sermón del Monte donde nos desafió a vivir las promesas del reino de Dios aquí en la tierra.

Despues Jesús le dijo a sus discípulos lo costoso que sería seguirlo. Les dijo que incluso sus familias podrian odiarlos. Les dijo que la gente es voluble o poco confiable y que es imposible complacer a todos.

Y luego les dijo, que el reino de Dios no se realiza por nuestras acciones. El reino de Dios es la acción de Dios en el mundo y estamos invitados a participar en él. De la misma manera, el conocimiento de Dios no viene a través de pruebas empíricas, sino a través de la revelación y el don de la sabiduría que Dios nos ha dado.

Y luego, al final del Evangelio de hoy, Jesús ofrece una invitación.

Jesús sabe en qué formas las contradicciones e inconsistencias del mundo son injustas. Jesús sabe que las expectativas que ponemos en nosotros mismos no son realistas. Pero también sabe que la promesa es que el reino de Dios será justo. Será un lugar donde la humildad y el servicio a los demás sean la norma. Será un lugar donde se valore la pacificación sobre la guerra.

Es el lugar donde se encuentra la libertad.

La libertad aquí no es solo la libertad de la esclavitud de los amos opresores. La libertad en el evangelio es la libertad de la esclavitud del pecado. Es la libertad de las cosas que nos alejan de Dios y de las formas en que nos alejamos de Dios. Es la libertad de saber que en Cristo somos justificados y santificados. Por gracia somos salvos o liberados. Y no estamos solos. Estamos unidos con Cristo.

La invitación aquí no es una invitación a unas vacaciones para toda la vida. Jesús nos ve, atados o en yugo a cosas que nos deprimen. Él ve nuestros miedos y preocupaciones y nuestro agotamiento. Nos invita a hacer un intercambio. Dejar el yugo que hemos llevado y tomar el que él nos ofrece. Nuestras cargas son más ligeras porque no estamos solos. Jesús nos ayuda a llevarlas, fortaleciéndonos, dándonos descanso para que seamos renovados para lo que viene.

Debido a que él nos ha advertido, podemos esperar que estar en yugo con Jesús tendrá sus propios desafíos. Elegir la humildad sobre el orgullo o la arrogancia significa sacrificio. Y elegir la mansedumbre sobre la violencia o la coerción significa rendirse. Unidos a Jesús, se nos recuerda que la vida en el reino de Dios se ve diferente de los reinos terrenales.

Una de las diferencias es que se nos manda a descansar. Oímos en el primer mandamiento: "Acuérdate del día de reposo para santificarlo. (Éxodo 20:8)

Las preguntas sobre qué es el día de reposo y qué significa santificarlo podrían ser un estudio bíblico completo. Pero la semana pasada alguien me preguntó cómo es mi sábado de reposo. Para mí, como pastor, no pienso en el domingo como mi día de reposo porque por muy alegre que sea este trabajo, estoy trabajando. Pero trato, en la medida de lo posible, de mantener los viernes como mi día de reposo. Un día lejos de mi computadora, correo electrónico y reuniones. Tengo una pequeña confesión: a menudo todavía escribo mi sermón ese día porque es el día en que puedo encontrar un lugar tranquilo donde puedo escribir. Pero con la misma frecuencia, hago yoga, paso tiempo al aire libre, leo y descanso. Descanso, confiada en que la lista de cosas por hacer estará allí al día siguiente. Descanso consciente de que mi cuerpo no es una máquina. Descanso sabiendo que está bien simplemente estar presente en el mundo y estar agradecida por mi lugar en él.

Al invitarnos a vivir juntos, Jesús alienta este tipo de descanso sabático donde podemos descansar y renovarnos en cuerpo, mente y alma.

Tiene el propósito de ser un bálsamo o ungüento, para ayudarnos a sanar y ser fortalecidos para nuestra vida juntos en el reino de Dios.

Oremos…

Dios bueno y misericordioso,

Gracias por tu Hijo Jesús

quien nos libra del pecado

y nos muestra el camino de la sabiduría,

revelando la bondad de la vida juntos.

Ayúdanos a vivir con humildad y mansedumbre y encontrar descanso para nuestras almas.

Oramos en el nombre de Jesús.

Amén.

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

When we meet Jesus in today’s Gospel, he’s been teaching. First, we heard his Sermon on the Mount where he challenged us to live out the promises of God’s kingdom here on earth.

Then Jesus told his disciples how costly following him will be. He told them that even their families may hate them. He told them that people are fickle or unreliable and that it is impossible to please everyone.

And then he told them, that the kingdom of God isn’t realized because of our actions. The kingdom of God is God’s action in the world and we are invited to participate in it. In the same way, knowledge of God doesn’t come through empirical proof, but through revelation and the gift of wisdom given to us by God.

And then, at the end of today’s Gospel, Jesus offers an invitation.

Jesus knows that the ways in which the contradictions and inconsistencies of the world are unjust. Jesus knows that the expectations we place on ourselves are unrealistic. But he also knows that the promise is that God’s kingdom will be just. It will be a place where humility and service to others are the standard. It will be a place where peacemaking is valued over war-mongering.

It is the place where freedom is found.

Freedom here isn’t only freedom from slavery by oppressive masters. Freedom in the gospel is freedom from bondage to sin. It is freedom from the things that draw us away from God and from the ways that we turn away from God. It is the freedom of knowing that in Christ, we are justified and sanctified. By grace we are saved or freed. And we are not alone. We are united with Christ.

The invitation here isn’t an invitation to a lifelong vacation. Jesus sees us, tethered or yoked to things that lay us low. He sees our fears and worries and our exhaustion. He invites us to make a trade. To put down the yoke we have carried and to take the one that he offers to us. Our burdens are lighter because we are not alone. Jesus helps us carry them, strengthening us, giving us rest that we may be renewed for what lies ahead.

Because he has warned us, we can expect that being yoked with Jesus will have its own challenges. Choosing humility over pride or arrogance means sacrifice. And choosing gentleness over violence or coercion means surrender. Yoked to Jesus, we are reminded that life in God’s kingdom looks different from earthly kingdoms.

One of the differences is that rest is commanded. We hear in the first commandment: "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. (Exodus 20:8 NSV) Questions of what sabbath is and what it means to keep it holy could be a whole Bible study. But last week someone asked me what my sabbath looks like. For me, as a pastor, I don’t think of Sunday as my Sabbath because as joyful as this work is, I am working. But I try, as much as possible, to keep Fridays as my Sabbath day. A day away from my computer, email and meetings. I have a small confession: often I still write my sermon on that day because It is the day when I can find a quiet place where I can write. But just as often, I do yoga, I spend time outside, I read and I rest. I rest, confident the list of things to do will be there the next day. I rest aware that my body is not a machine. I rest knowing that it is okay to simply be present in the world and be grateful for my place in it.

Inviting us into life together, Jesus encourages this kind of Sabbath rest where we can rest and be renewed in body, mind and soul. It is meant to be a balm or salve, to help us heal and be strengthened for our life together in the kingdom of God.

Let us pray…

Good and gracious God,

Thank you for your Son Jesus

who frees us from sin

and shows us the way of wisdom,

revealing the goodness of life together.

Help us live with humility and gentleness and find rest for our souls.

We pray in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

2nd Sunday after Pentecost

Mark 2:23 – 3:6

Perhaps you have heard this story:

One day, someone was walking along the street and watching while two men worked. One would dig a hole about three feet deep, and then walk down the street about twenty-five feet and dig another hole, and on and on. Then a second man would follow behind the first and fill the hole back up. Like the streetscape projects happening uptown right now, this was hard, gritty work in the hot sun.

And, finally, with his curiosity piqued, the outsider approached the men and said to them, “Guys, I’ve been watching you work, but I don’t understand what you are doing. One of you digs a hole, and then the next one fills it in. It doesn’t look like you’re accomplishing much of anything.”

And gently, the first two men explained that usually they had a third man on their crew but he was out that day. You have to understand, they told the outsider, it was his job to plant a tree in each hole.

You see, these obedient workers had learned well how to work diligently, and they were committed to the established pattern of work that they had established. Each of the workers knew exactly how to do his part. They were hard-working, well-intentioned and earnest.

But no one had ever painted a picture of what their obedience and toil could accomplish.

No one had ever invited them to participate in the bigger vision or told them that they weren't just out there digging holes and trucking dirt. They were supposed to be planting trees, and beautifying their city and increasing green spaces.

In Mark’s gospel today, Jesus comes into the lives of the Pharisees as an outsider and challenges them to expand their vision for what it means to be obedient. He challenges them to question what it is they are doing in their sabbath-keeping, what does it mean to be obedient to God’s commands. “He is proclaiming—in word and deed—a new way of understanding who God is.”[ii]

It would have been so much easier for Jesus to just go along with the status quo. After all, just before today’s gospel reading, the disciples and Jesus are gathered at Levi’s house where they sat and ate together; the disciples weren’t going hungry int hat moment; surely, they could have waited until the Sabbath was over to eat the grain from the fields where they were walking... And the man with the withered hand wasn't in any hurry; he didn’t ask to be healed; surely, Jesus could have waited until after the Sabbath to offer his restoration.

Instead of just going along, Jesus challenged their understanding of who God is and what it means to seek the kingdom of God that has drawn near. (1:15) He teaches that Sabbath-keeping isn’t about displaying an empty and devout piety or observing a religious practice for its own sake. Midway through these scenes Jesus tells them, “The Sabbath was made for humankind, not humankind for the Sabbath.” (2:27)[iii]

Sabbath-keeping is not about checking a box or crossing it off your to-do list.

It is about a practice that invites us into life with God – the very same God who loves every one of us, regardless of our economic or social status, regardless of the label the world places on us. This radical life-giving God gives us new life in the forgiveness of our sins even when we have done nothing to earn that grace and shows us that “there is life available, greater and more abundant than we ever imagined.”[iv]

This radical life-giving God sets this day apart and calls it holy.

It is important, not because keeping the Sabbath demonstrates our own diligence and obedience, but because keeping the Sabbath frees us to live differently, and perhaps, even to see differently.

For the people of Israel who came out of slavery in Egypt, the idea that everyone, even slaves and servants, are given a full day set apart from work truly was radical. Imagine their surprise when they learned that their one, true God saw them. God saw the people who go unseen or ignored, the people who work without respite or reward, without refreshment or rest.

And today, God invites us to see them, too.

As Pastor David Lose writes,

God gives us the law to help us get the most out of life and, in particular, to help us get more out of life by helping others, by looking out for them, by taking care of them and, by extension, taking care of each other. [v]

The vision that Jesus casts is one where relationships are more important than rules.
Hear me say that again, relationships are more important than rules.




It is a vision that recognizes that all too often Sabbath-keeping becomes a meaningless pantomime, the repetition of empty motions without any experience of the transformative power of God’s love in our lives.

It is a vision where the Gospel is not only read out loud but lived out loud everyday in our lives!

Pray with me now…
Radical and life-giving God,
We give you thanks for your abundant grace poured out on us regardless of time and season.
We give you thanks for the gift of law that calls us into relationship with you, with each other and for the sake of the world.
By your Holy Spirit, strengthen and empower us to live in the richness of your mercy and the joy of our salvation, restored to relationship with you.
We pray in the name of Your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus.
Amen.

[i] Feasting on the Word: Year B, Volume 3: Pentecost and Season after Pentecost 1 (Propers 3-16) (Feasting on the Word: Year B volume) (Kindle Location 3354). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.
[ii] Feasting on the Word, (Kindle Locations 3502-3503).
[iii] David Lose, In the Meantime.
[iv] Feasting on the Word, (Kindle Locations 3525-3527).
[v] ibid