Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
“Rest-taking”
July 9, 2023
The other day, while trying to find the right place for random objects in our new house, I stubbed
my toe on a box in the sunroom that is filled with hand and ankle weights.
When I asked my husband where we should put the box, he said, its fine there for now, we’ll find
a place for them later.
And so the very heavy box, that would certainly break open if we were to try to lift it with all the
weights, some of which we brought and others the previous homeowners left behind, will stay
under the chair until we figure out where to put them, based hopefully on what we plan to do
with them.
It has been said that “The heaviest burdens we carry are the thoughts in our head” which I
heartily agree with.
Our minds can take us to dark and frightening places.
We’ve just emerged from the worst pandemic in a hundred years that had us facing a level of
illness and death previously unimagined.
Only recently have we breathed a bit easier about mask wearing and already the talk is turning
toward the next COVID vaccine which will offer greater protection from the newest variation of
the disease.
A study from the Pew Research Center this spring said that more than a third of Americans rate
our economy as poor.
Finding and affording housing has reached the desperation stage, especially for would-be first
time home buyers.
And there are the personal burdens that come with loving family, challenging work situations,
and past stumbles that stay with us to this day.
These words of unloading – “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy
burdens, and I will give you rest” – provide a promise that so many of us want to lean into,
especially when the troubles of life seem to get piled on top of each other.
We hear Jesus’ words as much hoped for promise that our load can be lightened.
But all Jesus was hearing were complaints.
There he was trying to get his message about his mission out to the people as well as
explaining John’s and what does he get in return?
Challenges and doubts and questions and even mocking.
Anyone who’s ever tried presenting a new idea to a bunch of cynical and negative folks can
relate to Jesus here.
Sometimes the haters are just going to keep on hating and the Debbie Downers will always
have reasons why the new thing won’t work.
So Jesus begins here by pointing out that all that negativity is sounding pretty child-like.
But he doesn’t write off child-like wisdom, in fact he highlights it and maybe that’s because what
we consider earthly smarts contrasted with divine wisdom is hard to understand.
We are pretty sure that if we just exert the proper amount of effort, it will all make sense – that it
is our doing that makes knowing God possible.
What if we backed up a step and gave God God’s due?
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We know God because God has elected to be known.
What kind of burdens were these first century folks he was talking to facing?
Peasants of the time were heavily yoked.
Their lives were dictated by the desires of the landowners for whom they worked.
They usually were existing at a subsistence level, making only a day-to-day living and on top of
that would be the tithes gathered by the Temple leaders as well ats the 613 commandments
they were expected to follow.
Jesus was there to show them another way.
Jesus was offering a balance between works and grace, as Martin Luther expressed it.
We may, in theory, believe that our lives are dependent on the grace of God but then we act as
if we must do more and be more in order to be loved by God.
The fact that we are God’s gets forgotten.
Over history, Christianity has often taught that we must follow a whole bunch of rules that
weighed folks down.
If we just push on, doing and doing more, God will love us more.
Barbara Brown Taylor (The Seeds of Heaven, 15-22) reminds us that around the world, there
are two kinds of yokes used for bearing burdens.
First there are the single ones that you may have seen in pictures that are quite efficient.
The yoke is placed across the shoulders with buckets hanging from either side.
With this method, people can carry loads almost as heavy as those carried by beasts of burden.
The job gets done but the price is exhaustion and probably a great deal of physical pain.
The shared yoke is the other kind.
It means you have to have two creatures but if they find their rhythm they can work so that they
can take turns bearing the heaviest part of the load.
They cover for each other so they never have to stop working.
They can keep at it and probably will be tired by days end but not utterly exhausted.
When we think we have to bear life’s burdens alone – a single yoke – we assume that it is all up
to us.
The “if you want it done right, do it yourself” mentality.
We load heavy expectations on ourselves – do all the right things, think only good thoughts, like
seemingly perfect lives.
What all that striving does is miss Jesus’ offer.
If we work with God, the load will be lighter.
God did not make us for the pain caused by the “my way or the highway” thinking when it comes
to carrying heavy loads.
What Jesus is holding out is the promise that by sharing the yoke, leaning into God, not being
so caught up in the me, me, me but rather the we, we, we of life.
The same might be said of the practice of our religion.
If there is no lightness about it, no joy, then it has moved farther from God.
Fear of the world and God makes for a rigid and lifeless religion and faith life.
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We are to seek out the God of joy and peace.
That is the God who will make the hard stuff bearable.
Then we will have a way to get through the inevitable hurts and disappointments and losses,
knowing that our loving God continues to be with us, holding us gently and bearing us up in
love.
I will close then with this Prayer of Rest offered this week by our UMC District Superintendent,
the Rev. Jill Colley Robinson:
Jesus,
when I pray,
if I get really quiet,
and close my eyes,
and calm myself;
and if I listen very intently, …
You invite me.
“Come to me, you who are weary.”
And I remember.
“God is my shepherd; I do not want.”
You instruct me.
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart.”
And I remember.
“God makes me lie down in green pastures;
God leads me beside still waters;…
God leads me in right paths for God’s sake.”
You promise.
“You will find rest for your souls.”
And I am assured.
“God restores my soul.”
Again, you invite me.
“Come to me, you who are carrying heavy burdens.”
And I remember.
“Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
You instruct me.
“My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
And I remember.
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”
You promise.
“I will give you rest.”
And I am assured.
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.”
I am weary no more.
My burdens are bearable.
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I am blessed. I can rest. Amen.