A Sermon for Pentecost V - Proper 9 A - July 5, 2020
Recorded on Facebook Live Broadcast
Sirach 26:10: The Headstrong Daughter
“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 meek and humble of heart.”
That’s what Matthew reports
that Jesus said. I don’t know about you but I really need to hear those words
today - especially the part about being weary and carrying heavy burdens. And,
being given rest.
Our country seems no longer
to be a “melting pot” but a boiling cauldron of dissent and divisiveness and I
confess I am weary of it all. As of today, there are exactly 122 days to the
election.
I don’t know about you, but that can’t come soon enough. Then,
whatever happens, we’ll be able to get on with continuing the great, on-going
experiment we call ‘democracy’ – an idea which many will celebrate this long
holiday weekend.
We hear an echo of these words of Jesus in Emma Lazarus’ poem which is engraved on the base of The Statue of Liberty.
We hear an echo of these words of Jesus in Emma Lazarus’ poem which is engraved on the base of The Statue of Liberty.
It’s these words, this morning, that catch the
eyes of my soul and the ears of my heart:
"Takemy yoke upon you and learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart."
That's a difficult message to digest, especially if you confuse meekness and
weakness.
My dear friend Louie Clay Crew used to say, “The
meek are getting ready.” I never really understood what he was saying until one
day I asked him. I learned that there is a big, important difference between being meek
and being weak.
That's what happens when you as an English professor about the English language.
That's what happens when you as an English professor about the English language.
Louie explained that it takes strength of
character to be meek and offer a meek disposition. It is a deliberate
choice to be meek, to not to assert oneself or press an advantage.
Weakness, by contrast, doesn't have the capacity to assert itself. It's the opposite of strength.
Take a moment to let the idea about meek vs. weak sink in.
Weakness, by contrast, doesn't have the capacity to assert itself. It's the opposite of strength.
Take a moment to let the idea about meek vs. weak sink in.
Certainly, meekness seems in short supply in our
world today. We tend to be more interested in self-protection and
self-centeredness. That often causes us to adopt a defensive posture to our
ideas and positions. It takes real strength to deliberately not assert oneself
or press an advantage.
There’s a wonderful example of the strength of
meekness in the continuing story of the aftermath of the Binding of Isaac inthis morning's lesson from Hebrew Scripture.
Isaac was living in the Negeb,
having come from Beer-lahai-roi, the spring named by his stepmother, Hagar, in
thanksgiving for God saving her life and that of Ishmael, the firstborn of his
family and the half-brother of Isaac.
It is just my conjecture but I
imagine that, after his father, Abraham, had tried to kill him, Isaac sought
refuge with Hagar and Ishmael and had “settled” into life with or near them. Isaac never saw
his parents, Abraham and Sarah, ever again. Even so, Abraham had arranged for a
wife for Isaac. He was certain to instruct his servants to make sure that the
woman chosen for her son came by her own volition.
Isaac was out walking one evening
when the caravan of camels and people drew near. Rebekah looked up and saw
Isaac and immediately asked his identity. When she learned that this was the
man she was going to marry, she did what strikes me as odd.
Scripture says, “Soshe took her veil and covered herself.”
Scripture says, “Soshe took her veil and covered herself.”
Again, this is just my conjecture,
but I imagine that as they travelled, Rebekah had asked many questions about Isaac, the man she
had agreed to marry, sight unseen. I imagine she was told about the binding of
Isaac and that he had been so traumatized that he never lived with or talked to
his parents again. His mother had just
died and he had not even gone home for her funeral.
I think she knew, intuitively, that
Isaac, in addition to deeply grieving his mother’s death, was suffering from a
traumatic experience so horrific as to defy imagination.
So, Rebekah chose to be meek. She chose to cover herself so that Isaac might not feel anxious our immediately pressured to accept her as his wife.
She wanted his choice to be his, just as her choice had been hers.
So, Rebekah chose to be meek. She chose to cover herself so that Isaac might not feel anxious our immediately pressured to accept her as his wife.
She wanted his choice to be his, just as her choice had been hers.
Her meekness was a choice. Her
meekness demonstrated her strength.
Scripture reports: “He took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.”
Scripture reports: “He took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.”
There are only a few places in
scripture where this is said of an arranged marriage, and this is one of them. “ . . . and he loved her.” Such is the power of meekness to mend a
broken and grieving heart so that it may open, once again to love.
St. Paul tells us Jesus had the choice not to
suffer a scratch in this world. Whereas a weak person can be victimized by the
powerful, Jesus made the choice to lay down his life from a place of strength –
his equality to God to which he did not cling.
Meekness is always in charge of the event, not
subject to the will of others.
As Mother Theresa taught her sisters, when
you're in the presence of true meekness, you feel like you need to get down on
your knees.
I am convinced that the only way we are going to
get ourselves out of the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into in this world is for
us to practice meekness.
We may need to follow the good example of Rebekah and cover ourselves with a metaphorical veil for a time, just until the anxiety level decreases and trust increases.
We may need to follow the good example of Rebekah and cover ourselves with a metaphorical veil for a time, just until the anxiety level decreases and trust increases.
We most certainly will benefit from following the teachings of
Jesus whose time on the cross went from a symbol of religious condemnation to a
symbol of salvation for us all. Jesus said, “ . . . learn from
me for I am meek and humble of heart.”
Jesus also said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall
inherit the earth.”
To which I will add my own: Blessed are those
who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, for the meek are getting ready to
take on the yoke of Jesus.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
4 comments:
Way off topic, but *&^%% FB still won't let me comment on your page. Just wanted to ask if you've read "Phoebe" by Paula Gooder? It's about the woman whom Paul sent to the church in Rome with a copy of his letter to the Romans, asking her to read and interpret it for them. I've always wondered how this squares with the instructions in Timothy. I think some scholars now question if Paul actually wrote that, or if it was written in his name. Would have to research that further, but just throwin' it out there. P.S. Phoebe was a deacon of the church at Cenchreae and is mentioned by Paul at the end of Romans.
Hey, Bex. I'm sorry FB is giving you the blues. I swear I am going to quit it soon. The Zuckerbergs are just intolerable. I'm happy to hear about the book "Phoebe". Sounds very interesting. I'll check it out.
When I heard the "come to me" verse read aloud the first thing that crossed my mind was the Emma Lazarus poem. How timely to read your reflection. Thank you for shedding so much light on Louis' understanding of "meekness."
I swear I'm going to write a book: "Lessons from Louie". He's with me in spirit almost every day. Thanks for stopping by.
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