I grew up in the Evangelical Free Church.

We were taught about how Jesus would come as a mighty warrior, slaying all the evildoers. Evildoers did not include us, of course. We were forgiven. Well, unless we committed certain sins that were unforgivable. Like being gay.

And people said “you will be forgiven if you stop sinning,” but it only referred to those particular sins, because the rest of us were still being selfish, cheating people, and being cruel to people.

But Jesus would come in power to make everything right by force.

We believed in force. We believed if we couldn’t force people to be Christian – our particular kind of Christian – at least we could make them obey our rules.

Excuse me, God’s rules.

Because it’s difficult for me to justify why I should be the one to tell you what you can or can’t do. But if I say “this isn’t me saying this, it’s God saying this,” then I’m just the messenger. I’m absolved of any responsibility.

We talk about putting the fear of God in people.

We talk about putting the fear of hellfire in people.

Maybe that’s not the inspiration they’re looking for.

---

Let’s go to God in prayer.

God of wisdom, may the words that I speak, and the ways they are received by each of our hearts and minds, help us to continue to grow into the people, and the church, that you have dreamed us to be.

Amen.

---

When Jesus is talking about punishment, to whom is he speaking?

In Luke 16:19-31, it’s the rich man in the parable about the rich man and Lazarus, where Lazarus begs at the gate.

The rich man doesn’t even get a name.

In Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, and Luke 18:15, it’s the rich man when Jesus says “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

In Matthew 23:

23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ² “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’s seat; ³ therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it, but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. ⁴ They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others, but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them.

⁵ They do all their deeds to be seen by others, for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long.

⁶ They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues ⁷ and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to have people call them rabbi.

NRSVue

and

¹³ “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in you stop them. ¹⁵ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

NRSVue

Jesus speaks powerful consequences to the powerful.

If you think about it, It makes sense. The people with power have the most options. If they have money, they can use it to help the poor. If they have the power of authority, they can use it to persuade others with power to do better.

But going against the powerful is risky. They can fight back. It’s easier to go against those without power.

So when a group of people subdue an indigenous population with less firepower, that’s easy.

When a group of people fight for independence against a world military power, that’s hard.

Maybe that’s why we have one holiday to celebrate our independence from England, but no holidays to celebrate moving indigenous people from their land onto reservations, or slaughtering them on their sacred grounds.

It’s hard to celebrate the easy stuff. The cruel stuff.

Many of us are feeling the weight of being on the less-powerful side. Meanwhile, those with power are using it on the least-empowered:

• immigrants
• people of color
• women
• LGBT people, especially trans and queer people
• those living in poverty
• those living with disabilities

They’re easy. They’re the low-hanging fruit. And the people with power feel safer opposing the powerless than the powerful.

In our reading from the Hebrew scriptures in Zechariah 9, the prophecy is that the king will come in peace, humble, and set the prisoners free.

And in our Gospel reading, Jesus says

“Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

²⁹ 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.

³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30, NRSVue

Is this promise to the rich and powerful? Perhaps they do feel like they “are weary and are carrying heavy burdens.”

They’re not carrying the burden of deciding between medicine, food, rent, and utilities.

They’re not carrying the burden of being suddenly unemployed because something about them made them look like “a DEI hire.”

They’re not having their passports or driver’s licenses invalidated or altered.

They’re not having their benefits dry up.

Jesus isn’t speaking to people who are struggling to keep their place on the Forbes billionaires list. Jesus isn’t speaking to people who are struggling to keep their positions as representatives, senators, governors, and other government leaders.

Jesus isn’t speaking to people who are struggling to keep their positions as pastors of independent mega churches.

Because while those might feel like struggles, they’re not the same as the struggle to just live.

So while the powerful put their effort into demeaning and casting down the powerless, Jesus speaks truth to power.

At great personal risk.

And he doesn’t do it with armies. He doesn’t do it with weapons. He does it with words of love.

His best words are for the people who need it the most: those who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens

Christianity ought not be a way to press down on the poor, the strangers, and the outcasts; it ought to be a way to comfort and lift up those people.

Likewise, Christianity ought not be a way to further empower the powerful; it ought to be a way to call the powerful into accountability.

So my challenge to all of us this week is to check in with ourselves to see whether we’re feeling weary, and if so, why.

If our burdens are already heavy, we don’t need agree to additional burdens put on us by others. But we can choose whether we want to take the easy route and push down those who are suffering, or the difficult route that reigns in the power of the powerful.

And we can find rest in the Way of Jesus, whose yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Amen.

Let’s sing NCH 449 Softly and Tenderly

* Scripture quotations marked NRSVue are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. https://www.friendshippress.org/pages/about-the-nrsvue

* Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James version of the Bible.