“Soul Rest”
Matthew 11:16-19; 25-30
Rev. Patricia D. Barth
July 3, 2005 - 7th Sunday After Pentecost
Great Expectations! Now that we have elected a Pastor Nominating Committee, it’s time to think about what kind of permanent pastor would be best for this church, and what we expect of them. One of the signs in the sanctuary, part of our self-study, says, “We don’t know what is reasonable to expect of our pastor.”
Of course, what we really need is a perfect pastor. Here’s a pastoral description that made the rounds on the internet awhile ago:
"The perfect minister preaches exactly 15 minutes. He – notice that “he” – he condemns sin but never upsets anyone. He works from 8:00 AM till midnight and is also the church janitor. He make $70.00 per week, wears good clothes, buys good books, drives a good car and give $70.00 a week to the poor on top of his tithe. He is 28 years of age and has been preaching 30 years. He has a burning desire to work with teenagers and spends all his time with senior citizens.
"The perfect minister smiles all the time with a straight face because he has a sense of humor that keeps him seriously dedicated to his work. He makes 15 calls a day on parish families, shut-ins and the hospitalized; visits the schools every day; he spends all his time evangelizing the unchurched and is always in his office when needed. He always has wonderful ideas and opinions and he never foists them on anybody. He’s a strong leader; and always lets the lay leaders do whatever they want.”
Exaggerated? Of course! Far fetched? Not really! Remember the questionnaire we filled out on April 10? Having a pastor who’s a good preacher, who’s knowledgeable about the Bible was selected as the highest priority. Nothing’s more important to this church than a pastor who’s knowledgeable about the Bible. But how about going to continuing education, so that these biblical and preaching skills remain top notch? A low priority!
We expect great things from our pastors!
Of course, this isn’t anything new. People had great expectations of Jesus and John the Baptist, too—and they didn’t understand what each had to offer. “For John came, neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon;’ the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
John brought a spirit of repentance, for the forgiveness of sin—but the people thought he was a real drag. Jesus went to dinner parties, and proclaimed the joy of the reign of God—but people thought he was a drunk. You can’t win for losing!
Our expectations of perfection aren’t limited to pastors and religious figures, either. How many of you are burdened with perfectionism yourselves? I know I am. I struggle with it daily. The funny thing about perfectionism—you would think everything would be completely organized in a perfectionist’s house—but the drive for perfection is such an overwhelming burden that you give up trying. Instead of trying to do everything perfectly, you sometimes wind up doing nothing at all. Which in turn becomes a burden as well—that great weight of undone chores and unfinished projects. We all expect a lot of ourselves, whether we’re perfectionists or not. Americans in general have a strenuous work ethic— Parental leave is much shorter than in European countries, and we take less vacation. Needless to say, siestas during the workday are unknown. In terms of work ethic, the Washington, D.C. area is worse than most areas of the U.S. In many professions, it’s not only accepted, but expected that people will work at least one weekend day, and they often take work home on weeknights, too. For working people, our high cost of living means that many have two or even three jobs, just to get by. And that is jobs per person, not per family!
We find great expectations in our families, too. Some of us may put our expectations on our children or spouses, or siblings, wanting them to fulfill our dreams and goals instead of their own. But it doesn’t work that way, does it! We can only live our own lives.
Great expectations can be burdensome. Whether we place them on other people, expecting them to fulfill all our needs, or whether we place them on ourselves, and try to be perfect, great expectations can only drag us down. Great expectations make a heavy load!
There’s just one cure. Lay those burdensome expectations down. Jesus said, “Come to me all you that 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.”
Jesus invites us to set down our loads; to give up our great expectations that are too heavy to carry.
In exchange, he has a yoke for us; a yoke that is easy and light. Can you picture a yoke tying two hefty oxen together so they can pull a plow?—they are heavy wood things, so how can they be easy? The Greek word used here is chrestos—it sounds like Christos, doesn’t it? Chrestos means kindly when it refers to people—and good of its kind when describing objects. In other words, the yoke is easy because it’s well-fitting.
There’s an old legend that before Jesus began his ministry of preaching and healing, he worked in his earthly father’s trade of carpentry. According to the legend, Jesus made the best yokes in all of Nazareth in his carpenter shop. He carved them and whittled them just right, well-balanced, to fit the neck of the ox so it could pull the load without pain or tiredness.
It’s a charming legend, but I doubt it happened. But Jesus does make a yoke for each of us, the best around. It’s the yoke of his guidance and calling to each and every one of us. Each of you has a mission, a job to do for the building up of the Body of Christ, and you’ve been given all the spiritual gifts you need to carry it out.
You see, the invitation to give up our burdens isn’t just an invitation to chill out and kick back, much as we might need that. Jesus says, “Come to me!” Jesus calls us to let him put our lives into a proper rhythm, just right and well balanced. When we do what we were created to do, energy is created, not sapped. When we look to Jesus to show us the way, perfectionism doesn’t get the better of us. We won’t expect too much from ourselves or others, if we follow Jesus’ call. Jesus has great expectations of us that are just right instead of overwhelming—but we have to come to Jesus first. Let us pray together: “Holy One, make us people of a renewed spirit. We place our hope in a God who has molded, from the stillness of earth and the steadiness of breath, a universe of wondrous balance. Help us to practice the compassion of Jesus which calls us from tension to refreshment, from disease to health, from labor to rest, from death to life. We call upon the power of the Spirit to inspire us, to bring reconciliation to wounded hearts, peace to tormented souls, respite to burdened minds and bodies. Make us people of a renewed spirit and a light yoke. Thanks be to God. Amen.” [prayer adapted from Seasons of the Spirit, Pentecost 1, 2005.]
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