The family business: Rage against the machine

Last week Richard got us thinking about what being a disciple of Jesus looked like for those first disciples, and what that might mean for us now. The phrase ‘may we be covered with the dust of our teacher / rabbi Jesus’ has stuck with me all week. We need to be people who live so closely with Jesus that we are covered with his dust. If you remember, to ‘be with Jesus, be like Jesus, and do what Jesus did’. And that invitation is open to all of us.

One of the ways we can do that is to look at the ‘rules of life’ the practices we can adopt which help us to live as Jesus did. And this week’s practices are about eliminating hurry and distraction from our lives and living life intentionally, as Jesus did.

In our reading today we heard Jesus’ invitation to be yoked to him because his yoke is easy and his burden is light.

What do we know about a yoke?

[invite answers]

The ‘yoke’ was a 1st century AD way of describing a particular way your rabbi / teacher asked you to read the Torah, the scriptures. A bit like ‘this is the lens I want you to look through’. Jesus is inviting us to see the world through his eyes. It’s a way to shoulder the load of life.

And it sounds amazing. Let’s read the message version again – I think it speaks to our age:

28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Ultimately, Jesus is saying, ‘Live life like I do”. We’ll dig in a second into where we see these ‘unforced rhythms of grace’ in Jesus’ life, but first, let’s dig into what I reckon is probably one of the greatest threats of our time to our walk with Jesus, which is…

HURRY AND DISTRACTION

American church leader John Mark Comer has written a book which you might have come across which has been pretty influential for Richard and I. It’s called The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. We heartily recommend you get a copy if you can, or borrow our one. It is a very easy read. Today I’m going to unpack some of the ideas in this book, and then finish up offering up a few ‘rule of life’ Jesus-based practices that you might find helpful.

There’s a deep irony this week that I get to preach about ruthlessly eliminating hurry from my life so I can spend time with Jesus. It’s been one of the busiest I can remember in a very long time. Some of you will know that my role in the Diocese has changed recently, and I’m now helping Bishop Justin transition into his new Archbishop life. I have had to fight to maintain the rhythms that I need to stay close to Jesus. It hasn’t always worked.

Comer talks about how hurry is deeply engrained in our society. So much so that we now inhabit a space where we find it near impossible to step out. And there are so many statistics about the detrimental effects of hurry and distraction on our lives. [By 21 the average guy in the West spends 10,000 hrs playing video games.]

But I firmly believe that the way of Jesus is not one of hurry.

Comer wonders if the reason Christianity is on the decline in the West is because we as Christians have gradually got sucked in to the way the world works, and forgotten that Jesus offers us the chance to rage against the machine. I think there’s something in that and I find it attractive. We can be rebels! Woo hoo! We have a chance as Christians to reclaim back our lives, and model to others that the same life of freedom is on offer.

I reckon for many in Newlands and in Wellington’s suburbs, hustle and hurry is the number 1 thing that has power over us.

I suspect life of the average family looks a bit like this: [see screen]. The treadmill – shower - lunchbox – uniform – school / day care drop - bus – car – commute – work – lunch at desk - squeeze in lunchtime appointment – afterschool activities – day care pickup – dinner - homework – bathtime – school Board meeting - fall asleep in front of Netflix – bed. Maybe throw the gym in there, walking the dog. On the weekend – sports – supermarket – shopping - housework – homework - maybe catch up with the parents.

Perhaps you’re thinking that “a hurried life isn’t my reality”. What about when we’re a student, or retired, or out of work? Maybe your life looks like:

Wake up – Red Bull - gaming – two minute noodles – gaming – youtube – pizza delivery – bed

Or wake up – breakfast - volunteering – lunch - appointment – grandchildren – dinner - reading – TV - gardening – bed.

For those of us who have been around the Christian traps for a while, it can feel actually like religion or church itself is the thing that we’re trapped in. Meeting - meeting - small group - veggie coop - prayer time - worship service – it can all feel relentless and becomes the thing in itself, rather than a joy – or as The Message translation puts it, are you “tired, worn down, burned out on religion”.

So whether this book should be titled “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” or perhaps “Distraction”, maybe the real question is: in the patterns of your life, where’s Jesus in all of this for you?

So back to basics then - WHERE DO WE SEE A LACK OF HURRY AND DISTRACTION IN THE LIFE OF JESUS

I think the question is, where don’t we?

We might think “it’s all very well for Jesus, the pace of life was slower then”.

But Jesus knew he had a mission. People clamoured for his attention left right and centre – even busting through roofs so he would heal people. He ended up having only 3 years to save the world. And a yoke is a tool of work after all! Jesus is not saying ‘do less work’. He’s saying do it differently. There are so many examples:

· Jairus daughter – bleeding woman (Mark 5. 21-34)

· Lazarus – (in Bethany) “ when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” (John 11.6-7)

· Luke 12: “consider the lilies” [Stanley Spencer] – chapter begins - - note the ending Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labour or spin…Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these….

32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. …34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

· Luke 8: 23-25 – Jesus asleep in the boat

· Taking care of himself when times are tough: post John the Baptist Matthew 14:13 3 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place

· All the time – Jesus stepping away to find a quiet place to pray

· Not to mention countless parties, dinners, hanging with his friends

So we see in the life of Jesus:

+ a focus on the things that he really loved, that brought life

+ working from rest

+ built-in room for interruption

+ sustaining practices – e.g. prayer, sabbath – which we’ll touch on some more in the coming weeks

+ observation of the small things

PRACTICAL THINGS

So, taking up that invitation from Jesus to live freely and lightly, I’m going to end today with a few suggestions about how we can slow our lives down a bit, free ourselves from distractions, and live with more freedom and lightness, as Jesus did.

At the risk of ending with sounding like a self-help manual, here’s some things to think about, and there’s a resource sheet to take home with some further ideas at the back. [print this]

Remember all of this is grace, not guilt.

First up, some bigger principles:

· Do a time stock take.

o Spend a week journalling what takes up your day. Remember that line from the end of Luke 12: “Where your treasure is, there your heart is also”. How much of your week is intentionally hanging out with Jesus?

o Build wiggle room in to your life. Let there be enough contingency in there that you can be interrupted by Jesus saying “come over here! Look at this, I think you’ll love it”. Or “can you help out my friend today”.

+ Notice what has power over you. Tech can be a particular problem. Do whatever you can to lock it down. Get help if you need to. Be honest. For me, my phone is a particular problem. It’s my main source of distraction and recently required a very honest look in the mirror, eventually involving asking Richard to lock down my access to the news and social media websites that I noticed were trapping me. There’s still room for improvement – you can ask Diana afterwards.

o Work out what you actually LOVE doing – not what numbs you. Do more with the people you love. Find the joy of serving others. I find Jesus more, I find more of who I am when I am slow – out walking, around the dinner table, chatting with Batchelor st residents, in the garden. What do you love? Ring fence those in your week – let them become the things that are the non-negotiables.

· Find the bus-stop moments to re-assess your life and its rhythms. Look for the ‘bus stop’ moments - when something allows you the grace to reassess and recalibrate (eg. End of the sports season). New year’s resolutions; starting/stopping a job; during a period of leave / holiday; end of term)

· Notice your life stage, and have grace on yourself. Life has its ages and stages and there are commitments we need to make and there are needs we have to fulfil, like making sure we have enough $$ to feed ourselves. Kei te pai. There are still small things we can do:

o If you find yourself getting anxious and rushing, or if any of the bigger things above are just too hard at the moment, why not intentionally practice some of these small things;

§ Choose the longest queue at the supermarket

§ Get to an appointment 10 minutes early and just sit and wait, without your phone

§ Walk slower. Practice the ‘small things’ photo exercise.

§ Eat at the table not in front of the TV, even when you’re on your own.

BACK TO THAT YOKE

So back to that yoke. Remember that Jesus asks us to yoke to him. How can yoking yourself to something be freedom? How can you be a rebel by trapping yourself?

First up, there’s no force. Jesus is not a cosmic farmer trapping us into a bridle in the corner of a field. Unlike the treadmill of life we might find ourselves on, it’s about choice: “come” he says “take up my yoke”.

Can you imagine saying that to a bull “Here bull, come put this on”. It’s always carrot, never stick. [AI-generated rebel cow]

Secondly, Jesus says to yoke yourself to him. That 1stcentury yoke picture was of a double oxen. Jesus lived a life of intense pressure. He actually gets what it means to live life. And he is still with us: “I am always with you, even to the end of the age.”

I used to think that Jesus saying his yoke was easy was a complete lie. He also tells us we need to pick up our cross, to die to ourselves. But if I take an honest look at myself the hardest part of this idea is actually making that choice, daily, to yoke myself to Jesus.

But I want to encourage you that the more we try to follow Jesus and row the waka with Jesus at the head, the easier it becomes. The fitter we are. The more fun we have together. The more we love life despite all of its challenges. The more we will find ourselves living freely and lightly, finding the ‘rest for our souls’ Jesus promises.

Jesus give us the courage to keep yoking ourselves to you, day by day. Amen.