Come unto me, all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

One of my undergraduate degrees is in Agronomy- with an emphasis in Turfgrass Management...I studied to be a Golf Course Superintendent.  

While at university I was made to learn the botanical names for each and every plant native to the Southeast.  I was made to learn the process for Photosynthesis and be able to teach it to others.   

I had to learn how to make fertilizers and understand the chemistry of each and every soil type in our region.  I had to learn a tremendous amount about the biology of plants.

So, when I graduated university, I was a walking encyclopedia of all things green and growing.  

But, with all those classes and all of that knowledge, I still had to start at the bottom of the ladder- I still had to pay my dues.

Because, the ability to care for several hundred acres of land does not come by wrote knowledge alone.  Rather, it is a skill, a vocation, a way of life that comes by apprenticeship.  

When I began to interview for jobs out of college, my potential employers were much more interested in who I had worked for and where I served internships than they were in my ability to teach photosynthesis.  

The fact of the matter is that I learned much more about keeping greens from working under and with others than I ever did in university.  

It was from sitting at the feet of seasoned greenskeepers that I learned how to be a greenskeeper.  The things I learned in college were essential...but they did not teach me how to be a greenskeeper...other greenskeepers taught me how to be a greenskeeper.
 

Turning to this morning's Gospel, we see a very animated Jesus.  The disciples of John the Baptist, who is in prison, have come to him to ask him on behalf of John if He is the one to come, or the Messiah.  

John the Baptist has been very controversial...so at the question, Jesus turns to the crowds gathered and begins to rebuke them for not accepting the ministry of John and the ministry of Jesus Himself.

I am particularly taken by Jesus' telling the crowds that when John came, and was very penitential no one liked him...and now that Jesus is here eating and drinking and celebrating with everyone...still no one is satisfied...which we all know would never happen...

After Jesus rebukes the people for not being happy or satisfied with anything...he begins to scold them for not accepting the Grace of God.  

This morning's Gospel cuts out a bit of the narrative, the Woe unto thee parts where Jesus tells whole cities and communities that it will be more tolerable on smote cities of the Old Testament than for them.  

Jesus then says something rather odd...He says, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants;"

The meaning of this saying gets to the heart of the problem in this mornings Gospel.  

Jesus is praying and giving thanks to the Father that ‘these things' have been hidden from the wise and the intelligent.

Meaning- that the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ comes with great responsibility...

A responsibility that these wise and intelligent people who rejected John and Jesus would never accept...and that it is more merciful that they never know the Truth of Jesus than know the Truth of Jesus and reject it.

The point of Jesus' rebuke is this:  religion is not merely an intellectual exercise, and it is not intended to be taken on individually.  

Or in other words:  religion is not a game of who knows the most, or who is the most enlightened.  

Religion is about a relationship with God, and through that, relationships with others, and by that, a person truly has life.

You cannot learn how to have life in isolation.  Nor can you learn how to have life merely by studying or intellectual pursuit.  

You learn how to have life from others.  While intellectual pursuit is important and knowledge is critical...salvation in God comes through relationship.

Greenskeepers do not become greenskeepers until they are yoked to a seasoned greenskeeper...and we will never learn how to have life...how to live, until we yoke ourselves to Jesus and to His Church.

"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me.."

I love the image of a yoke.  For me, it conjures up images of third world countries...it conjures up images of farmers walking behind a big pair of sweaty oxen plowing a field.

And its not that hard to create an image of humans replacing the oxen.  For we are made to plow our own fields as well.  As we go through life we must break new ground, plow our way through, work the soil, build fields that feed and sustain us.  

And in those fields we will encounter rocks and roots...we have to figure out how to plow straight lines and produce a bountiful crop.

And Jesus offers us His yoke.  He offers to take us on, under His wing, and let us learn from Him.  Jesus knows we do not know how to plow a field on our own...and that we will make a mess of it.

That is the Yoke Jesus speaks of this morning.  Time and time again the 613 laws of the Old Testament are referred to as the Yoke of the Torah.

And Jesus is pointing to the fact that those under the Yoke of the Torah have made a mess of things...

And so Jesus offers to replace the Yoke of the Torah with His own Yoke.

Laws and legal precepts are not sufficient.  At the heart of life and salvation is a relationship with God...is grace...is learning to live by yoking yourself to Jesus.

We are Yoked to Jesus by asking to be.  Through prayer, through making attendance in Church a priority...through praying every hour of every day.

We are yoked to Jesus by making a conscience decision not to plow away like a sweaty oxen on our own...but by asking Jesus to show us how to plow the fields that make up our life.

Greenskeepers do not become greenskeepers until they are yoked to a seasoned greenskeeper.

We do not becomes Christians...we do not have salvation until we are yoked to Jesus Christ through His Church.

You do not have to go through life alone...you do not have to make a mess of things...take the yoke of Jesus on, and learn how to have life and have it in abundance.
 
Come unto me, all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.