“Come Unto Me.” | By Rev. Jack R. Miller
 
The intimate relationship Jesus has with God the Father is clearly expressed in our gospel passage this week. He offers a hymn of praise to the Creator of all things, who deeply loves us as a father loves his children; all his children. We see God’s great love for all humanity revealed in the life and sacrifice of Jesus, the Son, which is united with you and me through the gift of the Holy Spirit; we are family. We are not just participants in a religion or practitioners of ritual for ritual's sake; we are God's children, part of God's family, celebrating together the relationship we share. We are yoked together, working in unison to spread the Good News of Christ's hope, love, and peace to a waiting world.
 
Father James Gilhooley writes, “Most of us have studied the Gospels and concluded they are difficult, and so we turn to religion. We conclude that belonging to a religion is much easier than being religious and less demanding than serving Christ.”  Religion needs to be more than a submission to an endless set of rules and regulations dictating every dimension of our lives. But that is exactly how Jesus' listeners and many filling the pews today see their faith. What Jesus is proposing is a radical change in the way we express our beliefs. Our relationship with God is not based on how well we keep a certain set of statutes, but on the love we share in Jesus’ name with others. Our relationship with God is not based on a sense of enslavement or weariness, but on hope and joy and the promise of eternal life.
 
William Barclay tells a story about the mayor of a small city running into Christ in the street. He asks Jesus, "Is there anyone here who will be saved?" Jesus looks around and says, "No one except that couple." The mayor runs up to the pair and asks what they are doing to serve Christ. They replied, "We are merrymakers. When we see people depressed, we cheer them up. When we see them quarreling, we try to make peace among them."  So, we can conclude from Barclay’s story that God’s kingdom on earth is built by people doing kind and simple things for one another. Not just practicing our religion, but in living our faith.
 
Christ calls us to embrace a faith that is centered in childlike simplicity, and yet profound in embracing the love, compassion, and hope of God: love that is not compromised by self-interest and rationalization; compassion that is not measured but offered without limit or condition; hope that is validated through the many ways God’s presence is revealed in our day-to-day lives.  It is an approach to faith that is not compromised by our complexities and complications but by child-like directness and optimism. “If you carry your childhood with you,” the Jewish poet wrote, “you never grow old.” 
 
Loving one another as God has loved us and serving one another as Christ serves God’s people is not an easy task. But our mission is to bring Jesus' message to everyone. It is the yoke we share with Christ that fits us well and calls us to use whatever gifts God has blessed us with to give hands, feet, and voice to our faith, so that others can share the sense of joy, fulfillment, and meaning that only Christ can bring to our lives. Jesus is saying to you and me this week, "Come unto me." How can we refuse his offer? How can we not put on the yoke of service he calls us to wear? It is our chance to walk together in perfect harmony with Christ and to be united with him in his mission of hope.
 
Now may the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace as we trust in him, so that our love may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. And may we go forth as sons and daughters in the family of God, loving one another as Christ has loved us, now and evermore, Amen.