Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 9A)

July 9, 2023

Text: Matt. 11:25-30

            I don’t know about you, but I could sure use a rest.  Actually, I do know about you, because I am one of you, made of the same stuff, soul and body, flesh and blood, fallen stuff at that.  I am wearied by the changes and chances of this world.  I am wearied by injustice and cruelty, violence and corruption.  I am wearied by the thousand little grievances others, fairly or unfairly, hold against me.  I am wearied by the thousand little grievances I, fairly or unfairly, hold against others.  I am wearied by the Law’s just grievances against me… my sins!  My guilt!  I am wearied by the unrelenting accusations of the devil, and his lies… and my unwittingly, or even wittingly, falling for those lies.  I am wearied by this move, from one church building to another, from one time to another.  I am wearied by my worries and my fears for the future, for myself, for my family, for this congregation.  And simply by the daily grind of life in this fallen world.  I am wearied…  And you are, too.

            Okay.  Admit it.  Confess it.  You are not so wise and understanding as you pretend to be.  You don’t have it all together.  You don’t have it all figured out.  You can’t handle it.  You are not enough.  Good!  Good.  About time you figured that out.  This is an insight God gives to you by His Holy Spirit.  He gives this gift by the Law preached, His holy Word.  And He gives it in the school of experience.  It is a gift, and if He didn’t give it, you’d go on thinking you were just fine apart from Him and His help, apart from Him and His salvation.  So, the next time you come to the end of your rope, do not despair.  Give thanks to God and praise His Name.  Now He has you right where He wants you.  You are nothing but a helpless little baby.  You can’t do anything for yourself.  You cannot feed yourself.  You cannot clothe yourself.  You cannot put a roof over your own head.  Not without Him!  And above all, you cannot clean up your own filth.  That is, you can do nothing about your sin.  But God can, and God does.  Jesus can, and Jesus does.

            A helpless little child, that is really what you are.  But that is good.  For the Father does not reveal Himself to the wise and understanding, but only to little children.  Actually, the Greek word is νηπίοις, infants.  By which He certainly means literal infants, babies, those in diapers, which should settle once and for all the question of whether infants can believe.  But also you.  His disciples.  Those who believe in Him.  Those who rely on Him for absolutely everything.  Those who, to be sure, throw their tantrums, and ooze rot from every orifice, and demand satisfaction of their every desire right now… but they cry out in the right direction, to the right Father, and the right Savior (the Lord Jesus).  And, make no mistake, such crying out is faith.

            The Father reveals Himself in the Person of His Son to faith.  God, your heavenly Father, sees your burdens under the bondage of sin and death.  He hears your cries.  And He knows (Cf. Ex. 2:23-25).  He knows your suffering.  He knows what you need.  And He knows just what to do about it.  He sends His Son.  The eternal Son, born of the Virgin Mary, in the same stuff we are made of, only without sin (Heb. 4:15).  Soul and body.  Flesh and blood.  Wrapped in swaddling cloths to guard against the cold, and laid in a manger, because there is no room for Him in the inn.  He, too, fills His diapers, and snot runs from His nose.  I very much doubt it is true what we sing at Christmas, that the “little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes.”  He is like us in every respect.  He is one of us.  He feels the pain of the blade when He sheds His first precious drops of blood for us at His circumcision.  He gets hungry (Matt. 4:2; 11:12).  He gets tired, and sleeps (Mark 4:38).  He thirsts (John 19:28).  And He weeps (John 11:35).  He is grieved by those who reject His love: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem… How often would I have gathered your children together… but you would not! (Luke 13:34).  He is sorrowful even to death (Matt. 26:38), so disturbed in body and soul that His sweat becomes as great drops of blood (Luke 22:44).  And, of course, He suffers, and He dies. 

            So, yes, He knows your suffering, and this is what He does about it.  He gets down into it with you.  All the way down into your flesh.  And this is what He does about your burdens.  He takes up the cross and shoulders it, all the way to Golgotha, for you.  He takes your burdens upon Himself and puts them to death in His body on the tree.

            Now, this is not to say that now your life is care-free and easy.  Nothing about being a Christian is easy.  After all, you are baptized into Christ, and that means you are in Christ… risen, yes, but first crucified.  And this is the Lord who bids you take up your cross and follow Him (Matt. 16:24).  The resurrection is coming, when there will no longer be any burden, but for now, you live in the paradoxical time of Jesus having taken away your burdens, but you still feeling their weight until He comes again.

            And this is precisely where Satan pulls one of his dirtiest tricks.  He convinces you that, when you feel burdened, Jesus is not the solution.  Jesus is the problem!  Actually, the way it looks in real life is, when you are wearied and burdened, you think the first thing you need to get rid of is the Church, the place where Jesus is for you.  “Why do I have to spend all this time here?  With these people!  Giving my money!  Listening to this bag of wind!”  Now, it may surprise you that I actually have some sympathy with you, here.  The Church, as viewed through the complementary lenses Satan happily provides, is a tremendous burden.  Believe me, I get it.  I mean, this place is full of sinners.  Nothing but sinners.  Who sin!  Against each other!  Against me!  And the world hates every last one of us.  And the whole thing is going down in flames anyway, no matter what I do about it, so...  What if we just forget about it, and call it a day?

            But, beloved, this is a lie of Satan!  It’s a trick!  Don’t fall for it.  This is only the surface view of things, demonically colored, no less.  Here is the view from the other side of the curtain, through the complementary lenses God happily provides in His Gospel: This place is full of sinners, to be sure… sinners forgiven and redeemed by the blood of Christ crucified.  And nothing but sinners forgiven and redeemed by the blood of Christ crucified.  They sin against one another, yes, absolutely.  But then they confess their sins, to God and to one another, and they forgive one another, as God in Christ has forgiven them.  And they live with the life of the risen Christ flowing through their veins.  The world hates every last one of us, but what does it matter?  The world is coming to an end.  Jesus lives.  And we live in Him.  And sure, the whole thing constantly appears to be going down in flames, this Church of Jesus Christ.  But we know that this is just how He works: Through death and resurrection.  The Bride of Christ shares the fate of Christ.  And that is death.  But death leading to life!

            So, beloved, the Church is not your problem.  You have other problems, and you blame the Church, which is to say, in reality, you blame Christ.  Repent of that.  Rip off those satanic glasses.  The Church is where you find the solution… The Lord Jesus Christ, who bids you: “Come to Me!  I know you are laboring.  I know you are heavy laden.  But here, in Me, you will find rest.  You will find Sabbath!”  Beloved, here in the Church, Christ is present for you, audibly, bodily, tangibly.  In Baptism and Absolution.  In Scripture and Preaching.  In the Holy Supper of His body and blood.  And yes, in the Communion of Saints, which is to say, the Communion of Sinners Forgiven and Redeemed. 

            So… Take His yoke upon you.  His yoke is easy.  Which is really to say, it is no yoke at all.  Read His Word.  Learn of Him.  Come to Church.  Pray.  Receive.  Be loved.  Be forgiven.  Love your neighbor and forgive Him.  Suffer in hope and in joy, because the end of it all is Jesus, who is risen, and who will raise you.  It may be a burden.  But His burden is light.  Because He bears it with you.  And He has borne it for you.  And even as you bear it, He bears you.  In the very palms of His pierced hands. 

            Rest in those hands.  Hands of flesh and blood, just like yours.  Hands once limp and affixed to the wood, now animated with life and providing all things good.  You no longer need to pretend you have it all together, all figured out.  That you are self-sufficient, righteous, and good.  The Holy Spirit has taught you better than that.  No more self-justification, feigning wisdom and understanding.  You are nothing but a babe in arms… a babe, safe in the embrace of the Savior.  Beloved, your Sabbath is not a day.  It is a Man.  It is Jesus.  Come to Him.  He is here to give you rest.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.