Title: Spirituality of the Yoke
November 30, 2008 Sunday Sermon
Bible Verse: Matthew 11:28-30
Sermon Title: The Spirituality of the Yoke
<Difficulty in Human Relationships>
As always, the most difficult problem is that of 'human relations'. Interacting with people, forming relationships, living in harmony with each other... It's not that easy. The same is true of work life, family life, social activities, and church life. In the end, human relationships are the most important thing. As long as human relationships are resolved, in fact, everything will prosper.
But why are human relationships so difficult? That is because, in a word, people “wound” each other. Words and facial expressions, glances and attitudes, nuances of words and actions… This is because ‘thorns’ are buried in the etc. Although invisible, human relationships are like battlefields, scratching each other with knives pierced by countless thorns. The truth is. So, many problems arise in human relationships. We hate each other, we envy, we envy, we fight, we beat, we resent and curse. In severe cases, it even kills people. So, human relationships are very difficult.
So what should we do? Let's talk about that today.
<The Bible Story>
Let's look at the Bible first. 【"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. Then you will find rest in your heart. My yoke is easy, and my The burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)]
Today's Bible is Jesus' words. But those words are amazing. “Everyone who is stressed out in the world, come to me. I'll make you guys really comfortable. All those who have been hurt in human relationships, come to me. I will give you a real rest.” Because you said so. It's amazing. How could you say that! How the hell could you say something like this! Jesus was also a human being, but what in Jesus made him have such an amazing attitude to life? This is a topic I'm really curious about.
However, in Jesus' words today, there is a phrase that hangs around one's throat. That is, ‘yoke’. Jesus said. “Take my ‘yoke’ upon you and learn from me… My ‘yoke’ is easy, and my burden is light.” Jesus, who surprisingly declared that he could give freedom and rest to others, unexpectedly spoke of a “yoke”. What is a ‘yoke’? A ‘yoke’ is a rod worn around the neck of a horse or ox when it is heated or pulled a plow. So the yoke is a symbol of oppression rather than a symbol of freedom. It is not a tool of freedom to follow my own will, but a tool of oppression that allows me to follow the will of the master. If so, what the hell happened??? Jesus, who declares that he can give ‘freedom’ to others, is not saying that he himself is in a state of ‘oppression’!
<With Han Yong-un's poetry clock>
That's right. But as I listened to the story of Jesus’ ‘yoke’, I suddenly remembered Han Yong-un’s poem ‘Obedience’. Jesus' yoke and Han Yong-un's obedience seemed to have a common meaning.
“Others love freedom, but I like obedience. / It's not that I don't know freedom, but I just want to obey you. / I want to obey, but to obey is sweeter than beautiful freedom. // That's my happiness. / But if you ask me to obey others, I cannot obey only that. / Because if you want to obey others, you cannot submit to yourself.”
If we reinterpret Han Yong-un’s ‘obedience’ in our Christian way, that ‘obedience’ will be the ultimate obedience to the Absolute God. It is not that I follow my own will, but that I follow the will of the Absolute God, that is ‘submission’. I am bigger than ‘I’, more essential than ‘I’, I am not the outer self, but the original self… It is obedience that follows the ‘I of the spirit’, not the ‘I of the flesh’, and that is why it becomes a yoke. But that “submission” and “yoke” is overflowing with tremendous freedom, peace, and an energy of great serenity that can turn the world upside down. That's it.
"The Freedom of Jesus"
How could Jesus have lived as a free person in every way? Were there not only freedom in human relationships, but also the ‘great freedom’ that could transcend all life and death issues in your mind and thoughts? In my view, it was because Jesus solved all problems in connection with God.
It was Jesus who walked in connection with God at every step of life. A leaf we meet on the roadside, the people we meet on the street, the social situation and historical events of that time, and the establishment of relationships with families… All of these things Jesus unraveled in ‘connection with God’. So it has to be a 'yoke'. But, surprisingly and paradoxically, true freedom and liberation, detachment and peace abounded in that “yoke” and “obedience”.
<End of sermon>
Now let's finish the sermon. I took the title of today's sermon 'Spirituality of the Yoke'.
Do you want freedom from human relationships, freedom from anxiety in life, and freedom from fear of death? Then learn from Jesus' yoke. Then there will be freedom, liberation, and detachment. Let go of the ‘me of the flesh’ and follow the ‘me of the spirit (靈). Forsake the outward me and follow the inner me. Forsake the little me and follow the big me. Forsake the me of this earth and follow the me of that heaven. True freedom, peace, liberation and detachment are found in that “yoke” and “obedience”.
Let me pray for a moment.