Sometimes you just can’t win

Reverend Indrea Alexander

​Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-6, Romans 7:15-25a, Matthew 11:16-19 & 25-30

When I was child, my dad told us a story.  Once there was a child who would not eat their  dinner. They didn’t want their meat. They wouldn’t eat their vegetables. In exasperation their father finally said “Well, what will you eat?”

“A worm,” said the child, defiantly. So the father went out and found a worm. He put it on a plate in front of the child. “It’s too big,” the child complained. “I just want half a worm.”
So the father cut the worm in half. “I’ll eat my half if you eat the other half,” said the child.
Somewhat reluctantly the father picked up half the worm and ate it.
The child burst into angry tears. “You ate my half!”
 
With some people you just can’t win. You give it your best effort, but you’re damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. They’re so contrary, you just can’t win.
 
Jesus found that. It may come as a shock to the pious Christians among you, but Jesus didn’t take his religion seriously enough. Well, that was the accusation made by some of his contemporaries – Jesus spent too much time eating and drinking, and enjoying the company of men and women who would never go near a church.
 
If Jesus were truly a great religious leader, he wouldn’t be like that. Indeed, he shouldn’t be like that - should he? Wouldn’t he spend more time in scholarly conversation in places of learning? Wouldn’t he  associate with the religious leaders, rather than hang out with people beyond the fringes of faith?
 
No. Jesus says. You fickle critics. You’re never satisfied, you are always picking holes in what others are doing. He reminds them that they rejected the ministry of John the Baptiser because he was too   austere – John didn’t eat, drink and enjoy life enough. And now they were rejecting the ministry of   Jesus because he was too flamboyant and did eat, drink and enjoy life – with all manner of people. Jesus shakes his head about his critics, he knows with some people you just can’t win.
 
Jesus tells them they are like children calling out to each other in the market place – “We played the flute for you and you did not dance, we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.” Contrary. Unresponsive. The things that should give this generation joy go uncelebrated. The things that should make this generation grieve, go un-mourned. They are not reading the signs of the times, joyful or grievous.
 
They stand and criticise because they want to call the tune. But Jesus is the rightful leader, and others are to follow him. We are to do what he is doing, to take his yoke upon us.
 
Like a pair of horses or a pair of oxen, we are to be yoked together with Christ to share his work. He tells us the yoke is “easy” or well-fitting. We are only asked to do what is within our capacity, because God has a task for every one of us which is made to measure. Miniature horses will not be given the yoke of an oxen, nor draft horses the yoke of a pony. There will still be hard work. There will still be struggles. But we will be best equipped to meet them sustained and strengthened by Christ with whom we are yoked.
 
Someone told me they were daunted by a task they had been asked to pick up. But they prayed about it, and received a sense of calm. Jesus helps us shoulder our burdens. The things that are weighing upon us seem lighter when we have someone with whom to share them. And we work best working together with Christ.
 
None of us is exempt from the work of God. As Christians we are all representatives of  Christ in the world. Whether we are reserved or outgoing, pious, reflective or gregarious, we represent Christ in the world. Whether we are faithful in prayer and bible study, whether we readily speak about our faith, whether we regard ourselves as being up to scratch or not, we represent Christ in the world.
St Paul, a leader in the early Church, seemed to despair of himself ever being able to live up to the standard he desired to reach. In the book of Romans he says “What I do is not the good I want to do”. He seems torn apart by the battle within him of knowing what is right but not    doing it. He wants to act justly and live in God’s way. He asks if anyone out there can help him, and then answers his own question with the realisation that Jesus offers him a helping hand out of this dilemma.
 
Just like Paul, it is quite acceptable for us to have ongoing struggles. Paul reminds us that we are not perfect, and that struggling with this kind of tension is a part of the Christian life. The good news comes from knowing that we do not face these situations alone, but with Jesus to guide, strengthen and companion us.
 
Some people in our church are called to visible positions of leadership - in worship, in Vestry, in children’s ministry or whatever – but each of us is called to represent Christ in our daily life. Some people have a wide circle of family, friends, acquaintances and neighbours, and are called to represent Christ to them. Some people have a small circle— a home help, district nurse or distant relative. We are called to represent Christ to them.
 
Newcomers to NZ sometimes assume they have come to a Christian country, but a country is no more Christian than the Christians within it. We do have a legal system based on Judeao-Christian principals, and a fairly wide-spread ethos of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. But for people to truly experience Christianity, it will be through those who     personally follow Christ.
 
I am glad that some of the people who arrive in NZ, whether well-heeled or displaced and
dispossessed, are welcomed and supported by local Christian communities. This is where they will encounter Christ, in the love, compassion and friendship of those who seek to serve Christ by serving their new neighbour.
 
Mid Canterbury receives numerous immigrants and visitors from around the world. Some speak our languages, some do not. If we truly care, we will make an effort to connect. A greeting, a homegrown vegetable, an offer of help, a cuppa. We represent Christ wherever we are, and to all we meet. We need to be open to God in prayer, and open to the needs of the community that we are here to serve with Christ.
 
When people are looking for connections, for friendship, it can be great to do something fun together. I was thinking about our Pancake night, when people of all ages socialised and tossed balls into buckets, quoits onto stands, and rubber pancakes from wooden frypan to wooden frypan, with great enjoyment and hilarity. And then we ate lots of pancakes and got full and sticky.
 
Jesus, who spent too much time “eating and drinking, and enjoying the company of men and women who would never go near a church” would probably have heartily approved of the evening, maybe even more so if we had invited more of our unchurchy neighbours and friends. That’s our calling. Our ministry. To befriend people. Show them love and be ready to introduce them to the one who loves them best. 
 
At the end of today’s service I hope you will each accept the opportunity to be blessed,       commissioned, and sent forth into ministry. You will be invited to affirm your willingness, and to publicly declare who you represent in your daily life in the world. You may find that idea challenging, but it isn’t something new.
 
At the end of the service I will say: Go now to love and serve the world. Go in peace.” And you are invited to respond: “Amen, we go in the name of Christ.”
In this way you accept the call to ministry in the world and your reaffirm your allegiance to Christ. It is a public declaration of who you represent in the world.  May God bless you in your ministry this week.