Pastor Dismer’s sermon from July 6:

“Jesus invites us to carry the burden of life - with his help - in God’s direction.”

Matthew 11:16-19; 25-30

Romans 7:15-25a

If I asked you to imagine a tractor, what mental picture would you have? Would you see a green John Deere, with two little wheels in front and two big ones in back; a farmer with rolled-up shirt sleeves and a straw hat, perched on the seat and holding onto the steering wheel?

If you’ve actually been close to a new tractor recently, it’s about as different from the one I described as that one is from a yoke on two oxen.

The new ones have enclosed, air-conditioned cabs, radios and TV’s, GPS systems and computers that analyze the soil for temperature, water content and acidity.

Some of these new tractors can actually be programmed to plow a field without a human riding inside at all!

These new tractors are as much an advancement over the green John Deere, as the John Deere were an advancement over horses or oxen wearing a yoke.

Nevertheless, the idea was always to make plowing easier. We 21st century city-folk can probably understand the technology of today’s tractors, but we need to look backward this morning and understand just what a benefit a yoke was, and still is in the world today.

The yoke was made for a pair of animals who were first of all wearing collars that fit over their necks and rested on their shoulders. The yoke was attached to the collars.

Well-made yokes were shaped and smoothed to fit comfortably so that the two animals could share the load, and pull in the same direction without irritation from the yoke.

In our gospel lesson today, Jesus invites us to take his yoke upon us. “My yoke is easy,” he says, “and my burden is light.”

A better translation of “easy” is “kind.” Jesus’ yoke is kind: it is made to fit. Jesus says, learn from me for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. My yoke, my way of living, will fit you.

What is this offer? We are not being invited to literally stand beside Jesus with an old-fashioned yoke over the two of us.

We are being invited to carry the burden of life with Jesus’ help. We are God’s children, and we are being invited to pull, with Jesus’ help, in God’s direction rather than away from him.

Further, the way we are to do this is made clear by Jesus’ directive to learn from him; to look at his life as an example: to see that gentleness and humility are a way to live with others … a way that brings rest for our souls.

We can also learn from the example of people we know who have already taken up Jesus’ invitation to live this way.

On this Fourth of July weekend, when we are remembering the heroes of America’s past, I would like to suggest two modern heroes who took Jesus at his word; who learned from him, and carried life’s burdens more easily because they were yoked to him.

One is no doubt known to you all. The other, is, for each of us, someone known only to us.

First: the well-known hero. Just a few weeks ago, Tim Russert died. We knew him as a tough but generally fair-minded political reporter and interviewer. What most of us probably didn’t know until he died was the man behind the reporter.

It seems that everyone who knew Tim Russert personally could testify to Tim’s deep faith, and the influence it had on his life. All spoke of the deep joy Tim found in life, the enthusiasm he had for every aspect of his life, and the genuine love and respect he demonstrated towards everyone: his family, friends and colleagues, those he interviewed.

Being yoked with Christ pulled Tim in God’s direction every day, so that he lived his life at peace, as a disciple and follower of Jesus, even in his tough, secular calling.

And even as we look at Tim’s life as an example, we know that he gave a great deal of credit to his father, whose life as a hard-working, honest, faithful Christian was Tim’s role model.

My second example is another father who took Jesus’ invitation to live his life yoked to Jesus: my father. Like Tim, I had a father who was hardworking, honest and a faithful Christian.

I suspect we each have had someone who has helped us grow in our understanding of Jesus’ invitation. While I tell you about my father, I hope you will think of the person or persons in your life whose example made all the difference in your being here today.

My dad died 4 years ago, at the age of 90. He wasn’t perfect. I’m sure Tim would have said the same thing about his father. But day in and day out these men lived their faith.

Here are some of the ways my father taught me what Jesus meant about living with gentleness and a humble heart:

He cared for our family. He loved our mother; they were friends for life. We could trust that he loved us too, would be our friend always. Trusting his love helped us learn to trust God’s love.

Dad spent time with us. Mealtimes always began with prayer and often lasted long after the food was gone, because we all talked about our day, about events in the news, about our concerns.

Sundays were important to my dad. We worshiped every Sunday morning. Then in the afternoons, we took food to shut-ins, or visited the elderly in our neighborhood. One of my earliest memories was sharing “gas ration stamps” and “food stamps” with neighbors.

Tim Russert talked about how his dad’s love for the United States. Tom Brokaw wrote about the patriotism of that WW II generation. My dad joined the Navy even though he had a wife and two children and one on the way. He was in the first wave on Omaha Beach, on D-Day, June 6, 1944. He never talked about it, but we knew that he was willing to risk everything for his country.

My dad was a duck hunter. He worked out a deal with the principal of our school (a friend of his) which I doubt could be repeated today. My brother and I were allowed to miss the first hour of school for “educational ventures” with our dad – which, of course, only occurred during duck season.

The hours we spent with dad, waiting for the ducks to come, taught us a lot about patience and perseverance, about the joy of spending time together, not to mention the challenge of keeping warm early in the morning on the Mississippi in December.

As I said before, my dad wasn’t perfect, and his life wasn’t always easy, but he was a good man, because he was yoked to the Good Shepherd. And he taught his sons what that was all about.

I’m from the “green John Deere” generation, as are some of you; and some of you are from the GPS-equipped, air-conditioned generation, but we all need to understand the incredible invitation to “take on Jesus’ yoke.”

Life is not easy, not always pretty; sometimes it is overwhelmingly difficult. Jesus’ love for us could not be clearer than in this gospel text today.

Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, 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.

We know that this is true because God is faithful, and because those who have already trusted this promise and accepted Jesus’ yoke have witnessed to this truth by their lives. We are invited to join their ranks today. Amen