When it comes to yokes, Jesus had, in purely human terms, a great advantage over us. Joseph must have taught him in the carpenter’s shop how to make yokes easy; he knew what he was talking about. We, on the other hand, are not at all sure what the yoke in question was for oxen, or even mules or camels? or what it ought to look like. It doesn’t matter. This yoke is an image which has worn out over the years. The key-word is ‘easy’. Handel set our text in bar after bar of flowing semiquavers, tripping so fleetly that amateur choirs often leave the chorus out of performances of ‘Messiah’, fearing to get tied up in knots. He relied on his singers to demonstrate ease; no doubt our splendid choir will do so when it comes to the anthem; amateurs like us can be too nervous to feel anything like ease.
We react in the same way to Jesus as to Handel. He wants us his followers to be happy, and we get tied up in knots, uncertain what to think, uncertain what to do, looking for rules which he did not give us. My message to you this morning is: ‘Relax!’. Let God give you all his love! Unbutton yourself, and let God’s sunshine warm you!
His yoke is easy. It’s as simple as that. As the First Epistle of John [5. 3] says, despite a tradition very different from that of Matthew, his commandments are not burdensome. We are far too inclined to construct obligations for ourselves on the basis of traditional requirements which have little connexion with the teaching of Jesus. What did he ask of us? To love, both God and our neighbour, and to ‘do this in remembrance of me’. He took no pains to leave us a reliable account of his life and teaching. He did not, so far as we can tell, lay down detailed rules for us to follow. It is hard to avoid the suspicion that Christians have been so anxious to get rules of this kind and to press the right buttons in the message of Jesus Christ, that they have forgotten to put love first. He didn’t want it to be difficult for us. He didn’t demand things. He said that children could understand his Father’s will. Felix Alexander, whom we are baptizing today, already understands love; it’s the first thing a baby understands, and it’s the basis of Christianity as it is the basis of the existence of God and his relationship with his creation. Baptism is the simplest of ceremonies, and the most profound. In baptizing Felix, we place no great burdens on him, we welcome him into the love of Christ and his church.
But that’s all very well, you say. Jesus said he had a yoke, however easy, and a burden, however light. Sales talk is all very well, but what happens after you have bought it? Well, I agree that you may find yourself coming to church when you could be happily washing the car on a Sunday morning, or reading the Bible instead of The Economist but church does help in the everyday problems of existence, quite apart from the joys of the worship, both in offering the chance to get away from your problems, and in providing solutions to them. And although I m not sure that the Bible is useful for problem-solving, it helps one to understand that Christianity is about love. This means that you can’t follow Jesus all by yourself; you need to love someone, starting with the company of other Christians, just as the disciples of Jesus relied on one another from the beginning. The Church is essential to the Christian life. That is one explanation of why his yoke is easy, because the calling is shared. Being a member of the Church can be demanding, because, like any other community organization, it involves mutual obligations; but there is no reason why loving volunteers should find their tasks a burden if we all work together.
But what is this yoke? What is Jesus asking us to do? Matthew, Mark and Luke all assert that Jesus said he wanted you to take up your cross and follow him, but it seems to me that the reference to the Cross shows that this saying comes from the period after the crucifixion, so I doubt whether Jesus himself said it; in any case, it hardly matches the image of the easy yoke. The sermon of Jesus which forms today’s Gospel is not about struggle but rest, about taking away our burdens. I know that even the most devoted Christian’s life is not always like that. But I think that we can all enjoy an existence free of burdens some of the time, with an open heart and an easy yoke, if we will only accept the love of God and of one another. Too many people expect too little; religion could give them more comfort than they anticipate.
And what are the conditions under which his yoke is offered? There are none. The love of God is unconditional. There is no entrance fee, apart from baptism. All that is needed is a certain readiness to trust him, a willingness to love and be loved! You have to try the yoke on if you are to discover that it fits; you have to adopt the submissive attitude of a beast of burden to find that it is hardly a burden at all. Jesus tells us in this Gospel that he is gentle and humble, and though the text may not say so, the implication is obvious that he wants us to be gentle and humble too. If that seems inappropriate for someone as extraordinarily gifted as yourself, try to remember that he was the Son of God, and he saw nothing demeaning in being gentle and humble. Remember, too, what a lot of damage has been done in the world by people who preferred not to be gentle and humble. It may not be easy, after all, to decide to put your neck under his yoke. Love can be a bit unnerving, like those semiquavers of Handel. Yet when you’ve got it on, you find it is as comforting as a chorus of Messiah!
Alan Goodison