Sermon for July 5, 2020 5th Sunday after Pentecost House of Prayer Lutheran Church
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30; Romans 7:15-25a Rev. Karl-John N. Stone
When my wife and I first started out as pastors, we lived in a small Pennsylvania town called McClure. It was summertime, and the parsonage sat on a half-acre lot. Never before did I have that much lawn to mow. One day a man from church stopped by for a chat (his name was Sam Hall), and he gave us a tip about living in McClure. He said “whatever you do, don’t mow your lawn on Sunday--especially you as a pastor. No one around here mows their lawn on Sunday. But the last pastor did, and everybody complained about it.” So in the six years we lived there in McClure, I never mowed the lawn on Sunday. At first I thought it was strange. But then I realized that even though people’s lives had become busier and more complicated, the folks in McClure still aspired to keep Sunday as the day of rest. And while it was occasionally an inconvenience for me to not mow on Sunday--depending on the weather or other things going on-I just got used to it. After a while, I actually came to like it, and how the social climate of that community influenced not only my actions but everyone’s actions to try to keep a day of rest.
After we moved away from McClure, I can’t say I’ve never mowed my lawn on a Sunday, but I actually still try to avoid it. That little conversation with Sam Hall about mowing the lawn in McClure community, still influences me to this day.
This is an example of the interplay between the individual person and the broader community; of the responsibility each person takes for themselves, and the broader and unseen social structures that influence the actions people take. This kind of interplay, this kind of dynamic, is what Saint Paul was writing about in Romans 7, which we heard a few minutes ago. In the case of Romans 7, Paul writes about sin. And he describes a phenomenon that is felt by everyone from time to time in life: The good I want to do, I don’t do. The bad I don’t want to do is what I end up doing.
Why is this, when Christ has already claimed me as God’s beloved child, and died on the cross to forgive my sins, and rose again to bring me newness of life and salvation? Why do I still get stuck in unhelpful patterns, when Christ promises to set me free? The answer Paul gives is that “sin still dwells in me”. And that power of sin involves individual things I’ve done or things I haven’t done, which end up harming myself or other people. But that individual part is just part of the whole. Because on this side of heaven, there still exists a broader and unseen power of Sin with a “Capital S” that influences me, and everyone else, often without our even realizing it.
This phenomenon that Saint Paul writes about, sometimes we call it “social sin” or “structural sin”. It is the harmful power that influences us to do what we know we shouldn’t be doing, and it even influences us to inflict harm upon ourselves or others that we don’t intend to inflict. One example--and this is something many of us have been thinking a lot about lately, especially in the past month--is racism. Racism is what we might call a “social sin” or a “structural sin”. Meaning, I might try my best personally to treat everyone of every race in an equally positive way--BUT there still exists in society a broader and often unseen power of Sin with a Capital S that can influence me to contribute to the problems of racism even when I don’t intend for that to happen.
This basic dynamic has always been at work in the world--this dance between individual responsibility and broader social influence. We shouldn’t expect that our own time is any different than the time when Jesus lived. All we have to do is look at how people reacted to the ministries of Jesus and his cousin and forerunner John the Baptist. We hear about this in today’s gospel reading from Matthew 11. Jesus is describing how people would find fault in verses 18 & 19: “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say ‘He has a demon’. Then the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’” Even though John in his ministry came neither eating nor drinking, and Jesus in his ministry came doing the exact opposite with lots of eating and drinking, the people still found reasons to criticize them and look down upon them. And it’s not like Jesus or John had done anything wrong, and it’s not like people didn’t appreciate the healings and miracles, either--it’s because the broader and unseen power of Sin was at work in society to influence people to find fault. Kind of like, even though people in McClure expected me to keep my lawn mowed, if I had mowed my lawn on a Sunday, they would have found fault.
Have you ever been through something like that? If you’ve ever experienced that influence of sin that causes people to find fault with you no matter what you do, it can make you feel helpless, like no matter what you do you can’t win. And maybe you even ask the same question Saint Paul did when he described this phenomenon: “WHO will rescue me?”
The answer? “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Jesus makes a wonderful promise to each of us whenever we’re in a difficult situation and we feel like no matter what we do we can’t win. He says, “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.”
By leaning on Jesus, we can be set free from the power of sin. He simply asks us to rely, not on our own powers, but on his gentle and humble heart that goes out to each one of us. He asks us to “take his yoke upon ourselves”--so he can work with us and within us.
And we sure do need the yoke of Jesus to get through the times we are living in! These three plus months of pandemic have been hard on everybody--and on some more than others. That’s in addition to the other challenges of life we all go through. And the feeling of normal life we all want back is still a way off. There’s lots of burdens we’re carrying.
So Jesus asks us to hand all of those burdens over to him. This pandemic won’t last forever. But while it does, turn to Jesus in prayer and faith; let him carry the heavy burdens for you and give you rest. And if you feel the effects of sin, either on the individual or the social level, turn to Jesus for renewal and strength. Even with the every day burdens we face, every moment of every day is still a gift from God. So make the time each day to listen for his influence in your life, because Jesus has gifts to reveal to you as you stick with him in faith. Amen.