Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (A—Proper 9)

July 9, 2017

Text: Matt. 11:25-30

            The very best of human wisdom, the philosophers of antiquity and the middle ages, the Enlightenment thinkers with their triumph of reason, modern man in the age of scientific discovery and technological revolution, with all their great intellect and ability to comprehend the most complex systems… cannot by their own reason or strength understand the simple Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  Jesus says, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children” (Matt. 11:25; ESV).  In some sense, Jesus means this quite literally.  What the wise and understanding are unable to comprehend, the Father reveals to little children, infants even, by His Spirit in Holy Baptism.  There they come to faith in Jesus.  But in another sense, Jesus is calling all of us who believe in Him “little children.”  In fact, He says in another place, “unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3).  That is to say, unless you repent of being wise and understanding in your own eyes and confess that you are nothing, and worse than nothing, a sinner, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.  Unless you confess that what you know of God must be revealed to you by God, unless you trust His Word and believe the things that He says even when they are beyond your comprehension, as a little child believes his father, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.  We are babes before God, helpless, ignorant, and totally dependent upon Him for everything: for our daily bread, for every moment, every breath, every heartbeat, and for our eternal salvation.  And it is precisely to such babes that the Father reveals the Holy Things, the things of Jesus, who is Wisdom Incarnate, the human face of God, and our only Savior from sin, death, and hell.  Knowledge of these things cannot be attained by human reason or any human effort.  They can only be revealed by God.  He reveals them in Christ, the Word made flesh.  He reveals them in the Word inscripturated and preached, splashed on your head and placed in your mouth.

            There is a natural knowledge of God.  That there is a god, a creator or creators of some kind, this is clear to human reason.  For example, we know that someone designed and built this building.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t know much about the builder, except that he, or she, or they are good at building buildings.  And what is true of the building is true of creation.  The writer to the Hebrews says, “For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God” (Heb. 3:4).  There is a design inherent in creation that indicates a Designer.  This could not have happened by accident, not even after a big bang and billions of years.  So also, we know by nature that there is a Lawgiver.  We know this because there are immutable laws in nature, like the law of gravity, or the laws that govern procreation (e.g. it takes a male and a female to bring forth offspring, and so marriage and sexuality are written into the very laws of nature).  We know this also because we all know, by nature, that some things are right and some things are wrong.  This is called natural law, or the conscience.  We all know it is a crime to murder.  Even murderers and unbelievers know this.  We all know it is wrong to cheat on our spouses.  Even the pagans agree.  All of this is available for investigation by reason and the reflections of human wisdom.  But we cannot know much beyond this.  Not by human reason.  We cannot even know if the Designer and the Lawgiver are the same person or persons.

            And we cannot know that this Designer and Lawgiver is a merciful and forgiving God of love.  We only know that in Christ.  We only know that by the Spirit working in the Word.  In Christ, we know God as “Our Father who art in heaven.”  In Christ, we know God as the Son who became our brother, taking on our flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary and bearing our sin to the cross to put it to death in His body.  In Christ, we know that we are reconciled to God and have eternal life and salvation.  These things are not available for discernment by human reason.  These things are only available by the self-revelation of God in His Word.  And they are only received by God-given faith, childlike faith which is the free gift of God in Jesus Christ, given in the Word and Baptism. 

            Jesus says, if you know the Son, you know the Father.  If you do not know the Son, you do not know the Father.  There is no Father apart from the Son.  So much for the idea that Jews and Muslims worship the Father, as if you could worship the Father apart from Jesus.  Our God is not their god.  Their god is no god.  Their god is a demon.  Our God is a man, Jesus Christ, with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Jesus reveals this God to us in all His fullness, “For in [Jesus] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col. 2:9).

            And in Jesus, we know we have a God who saves, rescues, and delivers.  He is not a harsh Judge who delights in damning us.  He is a God gentle and lowly in heart, a God who loves us.  He is an every-present help in the day of trouble.  “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).  Jesus gives you rest.  Rest from your enemies.  Rest from sin.  Rest from the demands and threats of the Law.  Rest from all that burdens you in body and soul: pain, sickness, injury, heartache, depression.  He gives you rest from death.  He gives you rest from hell.  You are resting this very moment, resting in the good news that all of these things that afflict you have been put to death in the body of Jesus on the cross, and you are renewed and reinvigorated by the risen body of Jesus given you to eat, and His risen blood given you to drink, even as His living Word breathes the Spirit of life into your ears. 

            Now, this is not to say that you will not suffer in this life.  That is a demonic lie pedaled by so many false teachers today, that being a Christian means God will make your life easy with health and wealth and great prosperity.  That’s not what Jesus says.  Jesus says there will be a yoke to bear in this life.  The yoke, the burden put upon an ox so that he draws the plow or the wagon, is what Jesus elsewhere calls the cross you are to take up daily and follow Him.  This is not a cross you bear for your salvation.  That is all accomplished by Jesus on His cross.  This cross that you bear is the sufferings and afflictions of this earthly life.  It is whatever you suffer as a Christian, in faith, waiting upon the Lord to deliver in His way and in His time.  In the case of many of our brothers and sisters, it is persecution for the Name of Christ.  It is also the sicknesses and pains you bear at the instigation of the devil, who cannot stand to let you have a moment of peace, but in afflicting you would lead you into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice.  And these crosses, these yokes, are ultimately laid upon you by God your heavenly Father, who knows what you need.  He has this way in suffering of causing you to despair of yourself and your own resources, and to cast yourself solely upon His Son Jesus Christ for help and salvation.  This is what He says through His servant David: “call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me” (Ps. 50:15).  Or as St. Peter says, cast “all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). 

            And so we find that, though there is a yoke to bear as Christians, in Christ that yoke is easy and the burden is light.  This is not to diminish your present sufferings, but it is to give perspective.  As you bear the yoke, the holy cross, Jesus bears you.  Here I’m going to ruin your favorite poem, Footprints in the Sand.  It is never the case that there are two sets of footprints, or if there are two sets, it is because yours are running the opposite way!  The plain truth is, Jesus is always carrying you.  Always.  You never walk on your own two feet.  You are always in His arms.  Often struggling and hitting and kicking to get free, you little rebel!  But He carries you, faithfully, to the Father.  Stop struggling.  Relax.  Rest in Him.  There is an end to your yoke bearing.  There is an end to your suffering.  Jesus is carrying you to a goal.  He is carrying you through the desert wilderness of this life, through the valley of the shadow of death, to the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.  There the yoke is cast off.  There you are free. 

            Now, none of this makes sense to human reason.  Victory through the bloody death of God on the cross?  Life through death?  The love of God through suffering and affliction?  This is why the world thinks you Christians are stupid.  But you’re not stupid.  You’re just little children.  Children of the heavenly Father.  Children to whom the Father has given a Savior.  Children who believe the Father’s Word.  That Word is Jesus.  That Savior is Jesus.  Rest, beloved.  Lay down your burdens.  Rest.  You are safe in the Father’s house.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.