Sermon 9th
July 2023 – 6th Sunda after Pentecost
Text: Matthew 11:16-19,
25-30 – Spiritual Rest
Jesus today seems
frustrated. He doesn’t get the people’s attitude. Those around him criticized
John the Baptist as being possessed by a demon because he didn’t eat or drink
in the ordinary way that other people did – he ate locusts and wild honey. But then they criticized Jesus for eating and
drinking with the wrong people calling him a glutton and a drunkard.
Jesus sees the fickle
nature of humanity and how we turn the blessings of God into burdens. He then
prays aloud to God thanking him that he has hidden his truths from the wise and
the intelligent – adults - and revealed his inner secrets to children. Which is
something we hear quite often from Jesus – Let the children come to me for the
kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Unless you change and become like
little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus knows that if he
is feeling this way then certainly his disciples who come after him will
experience the same frustrations in the new church. But rather than giving up
he says: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am
gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke
is easy, and my burden is light.” This is quite a contrast to what we’ve been
hearing Jesus say lately. For the past few weeks, Jesus has been talking about
the turmoil in the cost of discipleship –persecution, conflict, suffering and
painful division especially in families for those who choose to follow him –
all the world will hate you because of me. It’s interesting as we look at
Jesus’ offer that it doesn’t primarily mean problems and burdens of a physical
nature – such as too many bills, or being unemployed, or sick, or stressful
work conditions.
Jesus is talking quite
specifically about those who have spiritual burdens in their relationship with
God. And these can be much more burdensome and wearying than physical burdens. In
fact, Jesus himself is showing that spiritual exhaustion when it came to the
criticism of himself and John the Baptist. We get a glimpse of what that
spiritual burden looks like in Christians with Paul who tried all of the usual
ways of finding some peace with God and achieved only frustration and
weariness. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but
I do the very thing I hate. For I know that nothing good dwells within me. For
I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Wretched
man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? And then he finds that release of his
spiritual burden – the Spiritual rest that Jesus offered. Thanks be to God
through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Spiritual weariness
should never be underestimated in the harm it can do to us. Sometimes we don’t
realise the spiritual burdens we are going through unlike the physical burdens.
Physical burdens are easy to see – tiredness in particular. Physical burdens
can be dealt with by physical rest. An early night – a day off – holidays –
long service leave or as we call it – recuperative leave. But spiritual burdens
are not dealt with in the same way. We don’t deal with spiritual burdens by
taking a rest from church or by taking a time out from our prayer life or bible
reading. Jesus gives us an invitation to take his yoke.
A yoke is a device that
spreads across 2 or more necks. You might see 2 oxen sharing the weight of a
plough. So Jesus is offering to help us carry the weight rather than removing
it. And that’s what we find often happens when we come to Jesus with our
burdens. He lightens them but doesn’t necessarily remove them.
What Paul was dealing
with and what was Jesus was addressing was the burden that we carry when we
misunderstand our relationship with God. The Pharisees of Jesus time put great
burdens on the people through laws. They took the 10 Commandments – a gift from
God - and they turned them into 616 burdensome laws which saw Jesus rebuked
because he healed on the Sabbath – because he ate with tax collectors and
sinners – because he refused to condemn a woman caught in adultery – because he
allowed a woman of ill-repute to wash his feet – and no doubt a whole lot more.
Paul also found that the more he tried to obey the law the more his sin
convicted him with guilt. Luther found the same burdens placed on the people of
his day particularly the peasants who could not afford to purchase the
indulgences to free their loved ones from purgatory.
So this is a challenge
to us today as the same burdens continue to weigh down many people who are
seeking a relationship with God but must first get their lives in order. It’s
not saying that God’s commands or obedience has been abolished. No. Jesus
himself has said that. Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the
Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them – for YOU. And
that last part is the crucial part – I have come to fulfill them.
The law can place a
heavy burden of guilt on us.
But Jesus has come to
assure us that God’s grace is there to bring comfort and relief. As Paul
discovered - Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God
through Jesus Christ our Lord! So there are 2 aspects to what we read today.
First – Jesus is
dealing with people who use the Law to supress people, like the Pharisees did. The
Law suppresses people when it should lead people to the Gospel. In many cases
people don’t need the law because they know they fall short of pleasing God. But
Jesus fulfilled what we couldn’t without abolishing the requirements of the
Law. To use the wording of our reformers from Luther’s day – the Law always
convicts – it never comforts. So Jesus saw his mission as a healer, as he said
when he was asked why he ate with sinners: Jesus answered them, “It is not the
healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance.” And that why he offers rest for the soul by taking
his yoke. He doesn’t abolish the law and its demands but offers to carry them
with us and for us. Take my yoke – it is light – I’ve fulfilled the law for
you. So when the burden of guilt weighs you down – come to me and hear the Good
News that you have been forgiven. The law has not been abolished but the burden
of the law and the guilt it causes have been abolished through grace.
And then, secondly, we
see the personal application of grace to the demands of the law in Paul’s life.
The good I want to do I do not do – the evil I know I should not do, this I
keep on doing. What a mess Paul found his life in – who will save me from this
body of death. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So if you’ve
found the burden of guilt continuing to weigh you down – come to Jesus and let
him give you rest for your soul. To come to Jesus is to receive a free gift of
grace. To come to Jesus is to discover,
as Paul discovered, that “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus.” To come to Jesus is to discover that the task of getting it all correct
is replaced by the absolute gift of God’s grace.
All the heavy topics
we’ve been hearing the past few weeks about the cost of discipleship is still
very much there. But the yoke of Jesus
is easy for us to bear. It leads to life
and to be embraced by God’s mercy. We are called to this new yoke of grace, not
to a law, or to a set of rules.
We are called to a
person and a community built around God’s grace where we find its richest
fulfillment, and its deepest satisfaction. Jesus said and continues to say,
“Come to me and I will give you rest.”
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