Pentecost 20: Joshua 3:7-17; 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13; Matthew 23:1-12
October 30, 2011
One of my most cherished artifacts is this ox yoke which was used by my mom's family when they moved from Ohio to Illinois, near Urbana in the early 1850s. Yokes like this were common equipment in those days. If you had an ox you could get a lot of things done you couldn't do yourself or would take you a longer to do. And if you had two oxen then that was even better because you had twice the power. But to harness all that energy in constructive ways you needed a yoke. One hundred fifty years ago people depended on these like we depend on machines and computers now.
This connects with the scripture this morning where we find Israel on the move crossing the Jordan River into the land that God had promised to give them. They may have had yokes like this one to harness the energies of oxen to pull their carts and wagons. But they also needed another kind yoke to help them pull together as a people and fulfill the mission to which God had called them.
To understand this it is important to note the role that water plays throughout the bible but especially in this story of Israel crossing the Jordan River. In the first story of creation in Genesis 1 water is already present before God begins creating. "In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters."
Water represents the opposite of creation. It represents chaos where no order or structure exists yet. The series of commands by which God establishes light, sky, earth, vegetation, living creatures, and finally humans shows that the essence of creating is to bring order and structure to that which is formless. Water is to God what a lump of clay is to a sculptor. To create means to take what is and shape it into a living form.
The water of the Jordan River represents all the chaotic forces that Israel has overcome and will need to overcome in the future as they take possession of the land God has promised to give them. The priests holding up the ark to make the river stop flowing is a very powerful statement about the faith of Israel.
Like animals people also have a tendency to follow their own desires and habits unless they have a loyalty to something beyond themselves on which they rely for guidance, for strength and for hope. It is this higher loyalty that brings them together and holds them together so they can work and build together. They needed a yoke and for Israel the yoke was represented by the ark carried by the priests.
The ark was special because it contained the Ten Commandments inscribed on tablets of stone given to Moses by God. It represented the covenant between God and Israel. It was considered the footstool of God and thus a visible sign of God's presence with them. Crossing the Jordan was just one event in a relationship with God that already was very old. God had brought them out of slavery in Egypt. God provided for their survival over 40 difficult years in the wilderness. Now they were blessed to actually enter the land God had promised to give them as their home. But this was not the end of the journey. There was and there still is much more to come that they could not foresee yet. The ark was a sign that God would always be there in bad times as well as good times, holding back the waters, to guide and care for his people.
The priests holding the ark in the middle of the Jordan River is a powerful statement. On one hand it provides visible assurance that God is with them. On the other it represents Israel's commitment to the LAW. Together this covenant with God is like a dam which holds back all the power and fury of a river. The LAW was intended to protect Israel from all the forces of chaos and disintegration that they were facing then and would face in every generation to come.
This picture of Israel crossing the Jordan with the ark says in effect then, don't take God for granted. Don't ignore the yoke of the LAW. It is absolutely essential for your survival. Without it the dam will break and everything in its path down river will perish. But faithfulness and devotion to the covenant means nothing can defeat you.
Today we are crossing the Jordan too and there are currents and forces afoot that are threatening to overpower us on our journey and sweep us away. We live in a time where we are influenced to think and organize our lives around smaller gods like race, politics, economic status, social status and sectarian religion. We have become more concerned for the agendas of these small gods that divide and pull people apart. But what is needed is the ark that pulls us together and saves us from self-destructing.
For Israel the ark contained the commandments of God inscribed on tablets of stone. For us the ark is not contained in a box, but is the life, death and resurrection of Christ. For us the ark is the cross of Jesus. We find our way across the river of chaos through faith in him and living our lives in line with the commandments of which he is the supreme example.
It is no accident that the first seal of becoming a Christian is with the waters of baptism. Baptism is not just a ritual performed with our name on it. It is the sign of the victory of Christ over the small gods of this world and all the chaos that they breed. It is the sign of how life is being transformed and redeemed from an old order into a new creation. Baptism signifies that we are leaving the old, natural world of those small gods behind and putting on a new self, a new nature in Jesus Christ. It announces our commitment and desire to be shaped by this new covenant, God's new creation in the image of Jesus.
Like the old ark the cross also represents God's presence with us. It shows how much God cares for his people, all his people. The Cross shows that the heart of the law lies at the intersection of two dimensions. The vertical part represents loving God. The horizontal part represents loving our neighbor regardless of who they are. The cross brings heaven and earth together. Jesus lived and died for what he prayed that 'God's will be done on earth and it is in heaven.'
When Jesus calls disciples to pick up their cross and follow him this is what he means. We are called to love God and love neighbor in all that we say and do. If the focus is only on loving God with no regard for the neighbor then that is false worship. This is divisive and can easily turn religion into a weapon that puts others down rather than lifts them up.
And if the focus is only on loving the neighbor with no regard for the love of God then this is false too. Without a higher loyalty to pull us together the law of the jungle takes over as everyone follows their own impulses. This is divisive too and leads to perpetual strife.
We can learn a lot then from an old ox yoke like this. Life is hard and it is hardest when we have to pull our own load alone. But if we have someone else pulling alongside that makes both stronger. If we have others thinking with us this makes everyone wiser. If we reach out to encourage others to identify and use their God given gifts of time, talent and treasure for the sake of the kingdom, then the blessings of the kingdom will transform the world more and more. God's creative power is more constructive, productive and enjoyable when we work together under a common yoke rather alone.
This is what Jesus means when he says: "Come to me, all of you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon 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." (Mt 11:28f)
Jesus is the ark that holds us together so we can pull together, live together, enjoy together, build together. As we take on his yoke we are able to hold back the fury and power of those forces which if unleashed would sweep over and drown the world in chaos. The key to this life Jesus says is that "the greatest among you will be your servant. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted."(Mt 23)
Is the love of Jesus in the ark of your heart today? Do others see Jesus living in us at school? At work? In church? And in all the times and places where we live? Servants of Christ love God and neighbor, not for what they can get out of it for themselves, but for what will be right with God and the neighbor. This is the cross Jesus carried and on which he died. He humbled himself, but then was exalted. Jesus is the ark that saves us from the chaos of our time. He is the one who shows how much God cares. And the one who calls us to care too.
How are we showing love for neighbor and love for God each day in our words and actions?