my love, my queen

my broken dreams

A sermon on the burden and (empty) promises of kings

Ain’t that always the way? You ask for a little help, but all you get in return is a lot more work. And there doesn’t seem to be anywhere to turn, either. Does there? Sorry to say, all too often, the promise of a new helper just turns out to be the letdown of yet another taskmaster, only this time twice warmed over…

In today’s Scripture, the Israelites go to the king in waiting, Rehoboam. But, before they crown him king, they want a few concessions. Rehoboam’s father, King Solomon, had made life hard. 

And so, before the people anoint his son king, they want to make sure they can get a break. But, instead of considering the request, Rehoboam takes it as a challenge! Instead of granting reprieve, Rehoboam promises that when he’s king, he’ll increase the workload. And what’s more, he promises he’ll be an even more ruthless enforcer, too.

Is it any wonder the people balk?!? And you have to wonder, don’t you? Did Rehoboam just overplay his hand, or did he really think his threats would work? 

The rub, though, is that the alternative is no better! When Rehoboam rebuffs the Israelites’ request, they turn to Jeroboam instead. Jeroboam, though, turns out to be just as bad.

In fact, Jeroboam might even be worse! I mean, at least Rehoboam was straightforward! Rehoboam is clear about his intentions, undesirable as they may be. Jeroboam, on the other hand, promises deliverance. But in reality, all he really delivers is just a new form of subjugation.

After all, Jeroboam’s alternative worship sites aren’t erected to save people the hassle of traveling all the way to Jerusalem. No, on the contrary, those new worship locations are built to save Jeroboam. Jeroboam authorized the construction of those new temples to try to protect himself against the possibility of insurrection. 

It’s worth noting, by the way, that Jeroboam creates all this trouble for himself! As today’s Scripture notes, the schism was brought about “by the Lord that he might fulfill his word, which the Lord had spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.” 

You caught that, right? Jeroboam had already been told the Lord would do this! But instead of trusting that, Jeroboam tried to shore it up himself. All he did, though, was open the door to a whole lot of unpleasantness. 

…So much for relief. Huh? You can’t get it anywhere you go. All there seems to be out there are the outright enforces or the undercover ones. Most troubling, though, is the sad fact that, like Jeroboam, we even do this to ourselves! 

You don’t believe me? Well, how often have you stood on the wrong side of some unexpected outcome of an action you took that you were just sure was going to make life better? Hmm?

But, we’re getting abstract. Let’s try getting concrete. Shall we? How about this: What household chore do you hate most?

To give you a little time to think, because I’m going to ask us to share, I’ll tell you my answer: household repairs.

Amanda can vouch for me. When it comes to the little repairs jobs, I’m either utterly uninterested or outright irritated! I either overreact or refuse to react! When it comes to household chores, there’s no middle ground for me.

But what about you? What’s the household chore you most hate?

Turn and share your answer. And, as always, if you see someone sitting by themselves, invite them to play along! 

And quickly, I’m having us do this because it engages us, yes. But also because it creates opportunities to get to know each other a little better! And furthermore, it lets us practice those simple skills of evangelism. Evangelism doesn’t have to be some big screaming deal, you know. It can be as easy as turning to the person next to you and striking up a chat! 

Alright, go and share. What’s the household chore you most hate? And don’t forget to look around and invite others to play along with you…

*Alright. Let’s bring it in. 

Anyone want to share? Any unusual or comedic answers?

Ok. Well, hopefully, you had some fun and got your gears turning. Because the thing is, that seemingly innocuous question actually intersects directly with today’s passage! But the point of connection is the question behind the question. Not what chore irks you, but what is it about that chore that irritates you so?

For me, I think it’s that repairs make me feel especially incompetent. With my dyslexia, I always have to take a second look. And then, when I’m working on this or that, I have to constantly double-check to make sure I’m not doing it backward! Plus, as an amateur perfectionist and a professional self-doubter, I’ve always got to give my second look a second look and double-check my double-checking! It’s torture!

But what about you? What is it about the chore you dislike that’s so disagreeable for you?

…Now, don’t worry. I’m not going to make us share! That’s between you and Jesus Christ.

That, however, brings us to our first hearing of the Gospel! Christ can handle whatever it is that’s askance in you! Jesus Christ really is your savior! He’s not just a helper. Thank God! No, Christ, as he says in Luke’s Gospel, is for those who can’t help themselves. 

Christ didn’t come to repair the repairable. No, he came to save the helpless! So if that’s you, and it is, that just means you’re Christ’s bread and butter!

I don’t know if you have a favorite chore or not. Hopefully, you don’t! Chores are just chores, people! None of them are any good! Just some of them are less odious than others. 

What’s unique about Christ, though, is that he’s without sin. And that means, for Christ, work is not a curse. Work isn’t really work for Jesus! On the contrary, it’s what he loves to do! Christ loves plying his trade of salvation too much to call it work!

And that means it’s not a burden for Christ to really save you! In fact, saving you is what he loves to do! "For this he was born and for this he came into the world!”

Christ’s passion burns hot for you, for you _(reader)_! And that means, when it comes to really saving you, Christ isn’t put off by it! No, on the contrary, he’s all in on it!

Hear this: you are not a burden to Christ. No, Christ loves YOU too much for that! Christ loves nothing more than really being your savior! 

Christ isn’t angrily waiting up in heaven for you to get your act together. Quite the opposite, in fact! Christ, by the Holy Spirit, is saddling up next to you right now to bring the power of his salvation to bear where your life is most out of order! 

…If we kept that in mind, we might not be such easy marks for all the Rehoboams and Jeroboams out there! Would we? Because we are! Aren’t we? We’re suckers when it comes to empty promises. 

And if you don’t believe me, well, cut it out! But if you don’t believe me, just let me see your bank statement. I bet I can find plenty of examples where you forked over your hard-earned money on some gimmick that vowed to make your life better BUT left it more or less exactly the same — except, that is, for the absence of some reserve in your rainy day fund. 

Why do you think that is, by the way? Why do you suppose we’re such chumps when it comes to empty promises? 

That’s rhetorical. I’d be curious to hear your theories during coffee hour. But for now, I have a hunch. And, bonus points, it’s informed by today’s Scripture. 

The Israelites’ fatal flaw is that they never dare to ask for what they really need! And neither do we! LIKE the Israelites, all we ever venture to ask for just a bit of help. What we really need, though, is a full-scale rescue!

We don’t just need our load lightened. Do we? No, not really. That’s just another slow death. That’s Jeroboam all over again! No, what we really need is to have our load lifted altogether!

…Our real burden is the burden behind the burden. It’s not just the chore. And it isn’t even what it is about the chore. It’s the burden behind it all. It’s that we don’t ask, that we can’t even bring ourselves to ask for a lot more than a little help!

We’re constantly trying to manage our own life. Aren’t we? We do the chores not because we like to. We do the chores because we have to! Otherwise, the wheels fall off and the house goes to pot.

And that’s fine and all, but when that’s all there is, it’s not really living. Is it? No, that’s just going through the motions. And it’s awful to have no greater horizon in your life than the next darn thing. It’s no fun to feel like you’ve always got to make your own way. Isn’t it?

We’re always trying to carry our own weight. But sometimes, sometimes, we just need to be carried. Don’t we?

This window here is based on something Jesus said. St. Matthew records it at the end of the 11th chapter of his Gospel. And Jesus said, “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 gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

This may be a familiar passage, but this is still a strange way of speaking. Isn’t it?!? On the one hand, Jesus is a straight shooter. He admits he’s come to bring a yoke. HOWEVER, he says his yoke is easy! And his burden is light, to boot!

Jesus says his yoke is a kind of anti-yoke. His yoke frees! And he says his burden is one that unburdens, too! Who talks like that?!?

Well, that’s another rhetorical question. Isn’t it? Clearly, Jesus speaks like this! What’s more, though, Jesus is the only one who can speak like that! On the cross, Jesus took the full weight of the world upon himself. And that includes you, and that includes all your burdens, too!

Jesus is where to turn when life gets you down and the bad news piles up! Jesus is where to turn when you have nowhere else to turn! And that means, if you’re facing forward right now, you’ve turned to exactly the right place this morning!

…I can’t rightly say where you are right now. Maybe this week has gone your way. Maybe you’re harboring the delusion that, all evidence to the contrary, you’ll finally get it together and keep it that way, too.

But maybe you know better. Maybe life has kicked the struts out from underneath you. Maybe you just barely dragged yourself here this morning. In fact, maybe you’re so far in over your head that you can’t even really focus.

And if you are, that just means you’re a real Christian this morning! Welcome! You’re right where you belong! In fact, Christ is, right now, taking all that’s the end of you and using it to initiate real, active, and living faith in and for you!

You know what, though? Jesus has more in store for you! It’s not just faith Christ has for you today! No, Jesus has more in store for you because REAL life STARTS where faith really begins! You don’t just stand on the precipice of every last one of Jesus’ consolations. You also stand on the very threshold of the life that truly IS life! 

So long as we’ve always got to negotiate our own existence, we’ll never really live. Will we? No, we’ll always be too busy trying to manage our shortcomings. And as such, we’ll never risk really living! 

Sure, sometimes you’ve got to buckle down. But to have nothing more? That’s no way to live. Is it? No, that’s just trying not to mess up. And that’s not much of a life! Is it? But once you can’t pull that off anymore, well, that’s when things really get exciting! 

First of all, you’ll finally dare to ask Christ for all he’s promised to give! And then, you’ll even drum up the hutzpah to give all those Rehoboams and Jeroboams out there the boot! And, at long last, you’ll finally quit dragging that corpse of all your unrealistic expectations along with you everywhere you go, too!

When that happens, you’ll learn the miracle of empty hands! Empty hands, you understand, are the only ones that can receive everything Jesus has promised to give! Empty hands are the only ones that really dare to hand over all their burdens to Christ! Empty hands are the only ones free enough to take hold of Christ and his burden that unburdens and his yoke that is easy, too!

And with that, you’ll even experience the other inexplicable half of the miracle of empty hands! Get a load of this; Jesus can use your empty hands to give what you yourself don’t have! In Christ, you can give what you haven’t achieved!

It’s wild, I know! Words fall short. But it’s true! So I’ll just say this: you don’t have to attain the perfection of faith to hand over all its fruits to anyone you darn well please! In fact, faith is so living and daring, you’ll even find yourself handing these goods over to folks you never would have dreamed of before! 

…But you know what? There’s no point trying to convince you to lay claim to the greatest deal this side of the eschaton. And anyway, I don’t need to. Life will whittle down your options all by itself. And when that happens, you’ll finally dare to really turn to Christ, Christ whose really been there all along!!

So just remember, I already told you all those self-salvation projects would hit the wall. And when they do, because they will, call me! Say, “Pastor Ryan, I’m right on the tipping point where true faith and real life really begin!” 

And oh boy, will you and I have a lot to talk about then! Really talk about, too! In fact, for once, you’ll quit talking about God, and you’ll finally start really talking to God!

And that’s not all! You’ll also stop trying to plan your life, and you’ll finally start living it! Really living it, too! And yes, it’s no bed of roses. But trust me, it’s so much better than all the pale imitations out there!

So let’s do it! Shall we? Seeing as Christ has handed over to you everything and eternity, too, there’s really only one thing to do. Celebrate! And as you let that faith flag fly, may you also discover the sheer joy of being that true-blue bonafide Christian Christ has been making out of you since the very foundation of the world all along! 

Lift High the Cross, ELW 660