|
First
Reading
|
Psalm |
Epistle |
Gospel |
| Zechariah 9:9–12 |
Psalm 145:8–15 |
Romans 7:15–25a |
Matthew 11:16–19, 25–30 |
The prophet Zechariah's vision of a new beginning for society with the establishment of permanent peace and universal justice was the basis of Mathew's description of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Again, it was a vision of a bright future not just for the people of Jerusalem or the nation of Israel, but also for all the peoples of earth. Matthew clearly understood the mission of Jesus in terms of inaugurating a new world. Six centuries separated Zechariah from Matthew, but both knew that they were looking towards the future when the dream would become the reality.
Many of the founders of the new government of the United States were nominal Christians at best, but unlike much of society today, they were Biblically literate. They drew great strength from the Biblical concepts of universal justice, compassion, decency and a healthy sense of humility and self-limitation. They realized that God did not play favorites in bestowing dignity to one nationality and withholding it from others. They were quite suspicious of establishing one particular practice of religion over another and endowing one with privileges and dismissing with prejudice all others. The man and woman in the Garden of Eden represent universal humanity, the animals in Noah's ark are from all continents of the globe. The sign of the rainbow is God's sign of benevolence for all to remember. The mission of Israel was to all nations of the earth.
Just as those, who in 1776 formed and brought the U.S. into fruition, didn't put into practice all the implications of their Biblical heritage; neither have we. Yet it has been that Biblical undergirding of universal justice and judgment under God that has inspired oppressed people to rise up, refusing to accept the oppressors' justification of their slavery and victimization.
In the Gospel Jesus talks about taking his yoke and learning from him. Jesus does not lift responsibilities or troubles from us as much as promising to help us bear them. Yokes are to be shared. Jesus, in one sense, partners with us and we, as disciples, are apprentices to be trained to continue his work. That is why for people of faith, we are inevitably connected to the cause of larger justice, and we are yoked to those whom the light of freedom and basic human quality has not reached.
This weekend, people gather for picnics, and strangers watch fireworks together and enjoy each other's company. There is happiness in being together, in being united as a people, as a nation, as a type of community that transcends blood ties and religion. The Biblical tradition doesn't condemn these occasions of celebration. Instead it transforms them into a universal context. The Bible holds up a larger vision and then points to all those other things which continue to separate us from others, and asks, what about them?
An unmistakable and consistent theme in the Bible is God holding people and nations responsible for their treatment of others. What God asks of all nations is not how large are your granaries or how wide your sphere of influence, but how do you treat the refugees, the orphans, the strangers in your land. How are they and the many refugees of innumerable internal conflicts and disagreements, included? Do they ever experience joy, too?
We are sent from here this morning to bear witness to the presence of the living Christ at work among us. I would suggest that somehow and in someway Jesus calls us to figure out how we might join him, and take on the yoke of Zechariah's dream, particularly in the context of this weekend.
And
I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.
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