Fifth Sunday after Trinity by George Hallam-Attree (placement ordinand from The College of the Resurrection)

Genesis 24.34-end

Romans 7.15-25

St Matthew 11.16-end

We live in an age of distraction and impulsiveness. For instance, whether it’s responding to

emails, watching TV, or scrolling through social media, how many of us find ourselves glued

to our screens late into the night, when we know we really should be getting to sleep?

Afterwards we wake up groggy, irritable and hardly able to give our best.

Or consider how we spend our money. I know I’ve splashed out on luxury purchases which I

didn’t really need, with price tags I wasn’t entirely comfortable paying. ‘But look! I can pay

in three instalments, interest free. Why not then! That looks much more reasonable.’ In

silencing the more frugal part of myself, I’ve lost the opportunity to give that money to

people who really needed it.

These are just two examples, but there are countless ways in which we find ourselves torn

between what we know to be right, and what we actually end up doing. This is the condition

which we find St Paul bemoaning in today’s Epistle: “For I do not do the good I want, but

the evil I want is what I do. I see in my members another law waging war against the law of

my mind. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”

Remember, St Paul had been a celebrated young prodigy among the Pharisees. This was a

man of discipline, even in his youth. He went on to surrender his career, his status and his

reputation to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ, and he was determined enough not to

give in, even to the point of death. Are we so disciplined and dedicated? Yet even this saint

wrestled with himself, and found himself pulled towards doing the wrong thing.

The Twelve wrestled with this dilemma too. “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”.

Jesus said, as Peter, James and John snoozed on the eve of the crucifixion. Don’t mistake

what is being said here. It is not our God given body which is evil. We were made to be both

body and soul, and God will renew us in body and soul at the time of the resurrection. In the

original Greek text, St Paul and Jesus decry not the ‘Soma’: the body, but the ‘Sarx’: flesh,

the meat of sinful passion which clings to us so tightly. It is this flesh which we symbolically

put to death at our baptism, in anticipation of the day when we can be free of it altogether.

Jesus took on our humanity, went down into the murky, painful depths of our lives. He

suffered the sentence we should have paid, for our failures and the atrocities of humankind,

all so that He could lift up our humanity, lift up you and I, to become part of the indescribable

beauty of the eternal love that persists between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That is the only

way out of the vice of sin and death.

But the rest which Jesus offers is not only rest in the life to come. It persists here and now,

and it begins with trust.

Trust that God is not distant, that He is here with us. He works continually to sanctify us

through the indwelling of His Spirit, and through receiving His body and blood in the bread

and wine of the Eucharist. If we pray to Him, He will hear us and answer, even if that answer

doesn’t come in the form we expect.

Trust that God has entrusted us with purpose in our lives: a field to tend to, fruit to grow and

share, whatever that looks like for each of us.Trust that God’s commandments are good. His instruction is not meant to diminish our

freedom, but to help us to live life to the fullest. His laws reveal how we go astray. His

counsel, if we follow it, prevents us from making terrible choices which would diminish or

even destroy our lives and the lives of those around us. Following God’s word opens up new

possibilities and richer experiences. To borrow Bishop Barron's analogy, you are only free to

play golf, if you follow the rules of golf. Failing that, you’re just smacking things with a

stick. That said, don’t imagine that following good rules alone, even to the letter, is in any

way a solution to our conflicted condition. That is the yoke of the Pharisees, who tied heavy

burdens and lay them on people's shoulders, though they were not willing to share the load.

Today’s reading from Genesis gives us an example of what this can look like in practise. So

many of us experience stress, hurt and anguish in our love lives. Online dating, for instance,

has been described as being a desert for men, and a swamp for women. Now the story of

Isaac finding Rebekah may seem too perfect, almost like a fairy-tale. Abraham’s servant

prayed that he would identify the right woman, and at that very moment, there she was! But

look at everything else which went into that meeting. The servant, trusted by Abraham, and

trusting in God, made a 900 mile journey from Canaan to Ur, managing a convoy of ten

camels along the way. When he prayed to God, (depending on God’s guidance rather than his

own wits, or matchmaking tradition), he not only prayed for direction, he prayed that the

woman he sought would tend to the camels, revealing her generous heart. (Remember that a

single camel can drink dozens of gallons at a time). Then came the negotiation with

Rebekah’s family, and having completed his task, Abraham’s servant did not delay. The very

next day he and Rebekah set off on the return journey, though they had been offered at least

ten days rest.

Walking with God doesn’t mean that we won’t have to put in work. Walking with God

doesn’t mean that there won’t be hardships, but He walks with us, each step of the way. His

yoke is specially fitted to guide you, and his strength eases the burdens along the way.

So please, and I include myself in this: Don’t live life on auto-pilot. Invite Jesus in! Nothing

is beneath His care and attention, so pray! Ask for his guidance and insight, even with the

little choices. As cliché as it is, stop and consider what Jesus would do. Every time we pull

against the yoke, we make things harder. Also, we are so much more than oxen! Share your

creativity, your gifts and your passions with your creator and with one another. If you do, you

will not only see God’s promises unfold, you will play a part in unfolding them together