Let us pray. Merciful Lord Jesus, you graciously invite all who are weary and burdened to come to you for rest. Quiet our anxious hearts this morning, humble our pride, and grant us faith to receive the forgiveness, peace, and life you freely give. By your Holy Spirit, open our ears to hear your saving word, that we may find our true rest in you; for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
From time to time, we all need to take a break. To have a rest. To change our routines. And to take some time out to recuperate physically, mentally, and spiritually from our everyday working life. Jesus himself recognised the importance of rest and the need to get away from it all. In the Gospels we see him regularly taking time out, not to do nothing mind you, but to pray and to rest in God’s presence, often inviting the twelve to come with him and “rest for a while” (Mark 6:31).
If it’s good enough for Jesus it is surely good enough for us. For the truth is, we all need an opportunity to rest, to lay our burdens aside, don’t we? If only for a short time.
It’s important that we find the time to focus on things other than our current anxieties or frustrations in life, so that we can enjoy some peace and quiet. Some rest. But where do you go to get it? And I don’t just mean “where do you go” in terms of a physical location. When Jesus says, “come to me”, he’s speaking to each one of us, extending an invitation to all who are weary and burdened. He’s saying, “Come to me.”
You know I’d be surprised if there was anyone here today who didn’t have a burden of one kind or another. Perhaps right now you’re experiencing some weariness in life. Maybe you’re unwell and battling illness. Or you have a heavy heart over something that has happened in your life. At any given time, there are always things that can weigh us down. That stress us, or make us feel shame, guilt or unworthiness. Whatever it is, Jesus says, “Bring it all to me”. “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” (Matthew 11:28-29).
You might remember Pastor Dave Preuss preached on this very text at John Nuske’s funeral. That was over five years ago, February the 9th, 2021. Dave was talking about the verse where Jesus says, “Take my yoke upon you.” He made the comment that, “Herein lies a huge secret to John’s contentedness in life, and what happens to him now. He doesn’t just get buried and that’s the end. No! Being yoked to Jesus means, his life, even though he was 92 years old, has only just begun.” Dave then went on to explain the “good news” of what this all meant with the following picture.
A yoke, as we know, is part of the harness put on a beast to pull a cart, or plough. Still in use in some countries today, a yoke is designed for two animals to work together. Each pulling the same load that was impossible for one animal to pull on its own. That is the picture Jesus is conveying in our Gospel reading. Being yoked to Jesus means being joined to the one who can easily handle the load, when we can’t. But sadly, people yoke themselves to all sorts of things they think will solve their problems. They rely on money, material things, or hard work, to ease their burdens and anxieties. For many in Jesus’ day it was religion and the burden of the law. The struggle to live a good life, and to be good. Under the Pharisees, religion had become a terrible burden.
And maybe that too has been your experience of life in the church? Perhaps you’ve heard or been taught, falsely, that the Christian life is all about being a good person and doing good. And then you fail. That’s a burden. The burden of falling short. The burden of always trying to do the right thing and be the right kind of person, but never quite making the grade. Is that your burden?
Whatever your burdens, Jesus says, “Come to me” Lay all your burdens at my feet, at the foot of my cross, 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” (Matthew 11:28-29). Paul knew the burden of the law, of trying to be good. Writing to the Christians in Rome, Paul describes himself as a person who was once a “prisoner of the law of sin” (Romans 7:23). Paul knew, as we know, that he couldn’t earn God’s favour by his own effort or goodness, no matter how hard he tried. And he did try, yet he could never be that good! He went on to say, “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do- this I keep on doing” (Romans 7:19). And so, we hear this invitation of Jesus, “Come to me.” He invites us to bring our heavy load, whatever it is, and dump it all on him. He invites us to throw all our sins in repentance at the foot of His cross. All those things which prevent us from coming to him. He says, “Give it all to me! I will carry your load, your burden for you!”
And then he gives us his yoke- the yoke of the Gospel. Jesus takes our sin, and we receive his righteousness. That is our yoke. Yet paradoxically it is no yoke at all. Because what is light is no burden, and what is easy is no yoke. And we know this from the cross. Jesus takes up his cross, and we receive his forgiveness, his acceptance and love. It is the yoke of Jesus, a yoke of grace and mercy, compassion, and love. But sadly, so many people today refuse to receive it or respond to his invitation.
Jesus speaks of these people earlier in our reading. “To what…he says…can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge and you did not mourn” (Matthew 11:16-17).
Like little children, we’re sometimes fickle and reject what is offered to us. Jesus, the Lord of the Dance, invites us to celebrate with him the new life he offers, but we refuse to dance. He invites us to come to him, but we refuse the invitation. A word of judgment is pronounced, but we refuse to mourn. We hear the words of truth and life, but we are unable or unwilling to receive them.
We think we are wise, but we are wholly unwise. We are unable to see what or who is at the very heart of the mission of Jesus. This is he who came as “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (11:19). Who came not for the righteous, but for sinners. For you and me. Sinners burdened by guilt, shame, and failure. As Jesus goes on to say, “… wisdom is known by her deeds.” (11:19) And yet we fail to know, or to perceive. Like the Pharisees we are critical of Jesus, and with whom he spends his time. We expect God to behave in a certain way towards his righteous ones, and when he favours sinners, we wonder why. And we think we are wise! Yet in the very deeds of Jesus, we fail to see that he is preparing you and me, for his invitation to rest. And the rest Jesus offers is not found in trying harder or becoming worthy. It is found in the friend of sinners who welcomes the weary just as they are. The One accused of eating with sinners is the very One who bears their sins on the cross and gives them peace and rest with God.
Jesus says, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned and revealed them to little children” (Matthew 11:25). The problem is that our intellect and reason get in the way of our coming to Jesus for rest. Here our Lord condemns not intelligence, but intellectual pride; pride which cannot bring itself to get down on its hands and knees and come to Jesus in humility.
But little children, says Jesus- these are the truly wise ones. These are the common people, those with a child-like faith, the blind, the lame, the deaf, those who carry burdens, who know they have a need, and who recognise who they are before God. That they are poor helpless sinners in need of rest.
These are the ones, says Jesus, who are truly wise. To them the truth of God’s love and promise of life is revealed, and so they come to our Lord Jesus for rest.
This Gospel reading was one of the favourites of the reformers. It is quoted nine times in the Book of Concord in connection with the way the Gospel and the Lord’s Supper refresh the Christian’s soul through the word of forgiveness. And that word of forgiveness, the invitation to rest in Christ is here for you to receive today and every time you come into God’s house. Because here is a place of rest. We’re told in the creation account of Genesis that “… on the seventh day God finished his work that he had
