Matthew 11:25-30	July 19, 2020

Pastor P. Martin	Faith Lutheran Church, Radcliff, KY	Pentecost 7

Matthew 11:25At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. 27“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Weary & Weighed Down? Jesus Has Rest!

Weary and weighed down, anyone?

Maybe I should ask it the other way around: Is anyone really thriving this year?

Of course, some are. Amazon, UPS and FedEx are making legendary profits, what with a third of a billion people in America at home shopping online.

Truck rental companies are doing great business this year for the same reason. FedEx, UPS and Amazon don’t have enough delivery vehicles to deliver to all the online shoppers, so they are renting thousands of trucks for delivery.

Sometimes, it’s kind of funny to find out who is doing well this year. A month ago a woman was saying that she has had a lot more taking care of her granddaughter this year. With public swimming pools closed, the two of them are going stir crazy. A month or so ago she was thinking about a swimming pool, just one of those little knee-deep deep jobbers. She couldn’t find one anywhere. No one online sells those things: too big to ship for not enough profit. 2020 is a good year for makers of small swimming pools.

Some businesses are thriving this year. But what about people? Have you talked to anyone lately who is all bubbly and excited and says, “2020 is a great year for me.” Maybe I’m talking to the wrong people, maybe I need to talk to the CEO of UPS, but I haven’t talked to a single person in quite a while who says, “Yep, doing great! Awesome year to be alive.” Oh, many are thankful for the job they have, that they haven’t been sick. But when was the last time someone said to you, “I’m doing great!!!”

Maybe this not-so-good year is good. Maybe we had started to think that we had things pretty much figured out. Maybe we thought that peace and prosperity could go on forever—just don’t do anything stupid; be responsible; etc. We had fooled ourselves into believing that we were the masters of our own destiny. Now, not so much. Let me ask again,

“Are you weary and weighed down?” Jesus has rest!

Jesus’ message for weary and weighed down people is beautiful and confident. This Bible passage, especially verse 28, is a standby for pastors. It is on our mental short list of devotions for hospital visits, shut-in visits, for counseling and a host of other moments in the human experience. It is a joy to shine these beloved words of Jesus into many a dark corner of human life.

But to better appreciate the rest that Jesus puts in front of weary people, let’s look at the entire reading. In fact, let’s go a little farther back, back before our reading. You know how the Gospel of Matthew starts. In chapters one and two Jesus is born: Gabriel, Mary, Joseph, Herod, Wise Men. Then there is a 30 year break, and in chapter 3 and 4 Jesus starts his ministry. He preaches. He teaches. He heals. Crowds flock to him, entire lakeshores, entire mountainsides. There is hardly a whisper of opposition in the first year of Jesus’ ministry. Verified customers would have given him a 4.9 star rating. Then, in chapter 10, as we have been reading for the last three weeks in our Gospel readings, Jesus sends out twelve of his disciples on a test run, an internship. But as he sends them out the door Jesus says something strange, “All men will hate you because of me… I did not come to bring peace but a sword.”

Now if you didn’t know the whole story of Jesus’ life, if you were just an excited disciple of Jesus living in the moment of 27AD, the question I would have been thinking—thinking because I probably wouldn’t have had the guts to ask Jesus—the question I would have been thinking is, “What are you talking about? Look. There are crowds everywhere. Everyone loves you. “All men will hate you because of me “? You must have been up praying too late last night, Jesus.”

Then, in this chapter, before our reading, Jesus started to explain. [Did you notice how our reading started, “At that time Jesus said…” Well, doesn’t that make you wonder what was going on “At that time”?] Sure, the crowds had been crowding around him, but they hadn’t been listening to the message. So, in the moments before our reading, “Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. ‘Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.’” The problem wasn’t that people weren’t coming to Jesus. People were thicker than flies on flypaper. They came, but they didn’t repent. There was no change of heart. The miracles that proved that Jesus is the chosen Son of God, well, people came for the show and to get Mamaw healed, but that repentance stuff? No time for that. So Jesus denounced them.

Now it can happen that a preacher says things like Jesus said, “Woe to you, ye sinners…”. A preacher can get so frustrated that he just lets people have it from the pulpit. But with the very next words, the words of our reading, Jesus proves that he hasn’t “lost it.” He maintains a balance that only Jesus has, that every preacher aspires to. Immediately after denouncing the unrepentant, “At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.’” Entire towns had rejected him even as they flooded him with shallow praise. Jesus could see into their hearts. He could also see into the hearts of his humble followers, who were not the wise and the learned of the world, who didn’t make their millions in business, who didn’t have the framed university degrees hanging on the wall – or maybe some of them did but they didn’t have the attitude of the people who do. The people Jesus was thinking of were people who prayed before every meal, and asked God’s forgiveness every day, people who knew they needed Jesus. Jesus looks at those humble people whom no one in the board room was talking about, who never saw their names in the Jerusalem Gazette, and he praised God for every one of them—in His Infinite mind, by name. That’s not the way we count things. We look around at the humble and say, “Well, Lord, I guess, at least these people have listened. Leftovers are better than nothing.” But not Jesus. When he thinks of us, Jesus beams for joy! “I praise you, Father… because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed these things to little children.” That gives you rest, right?

And something else does too. In his joy, Jesus reveals to us a truth that every Lutheran knows but needs to hear again. The reason the real followers were there beside Jesus was because God had revealed the way of salvation to them. It was not their smarts or choice or effort. And that is a good thing. If God did leave it up to your smarts, choice or effort you would always be left to wonder if you had really believed, or believed enough, or been sorry enough. You wouldn’t be driven back to God’s promises but would always be driven back to your conversion experience and commitment. (Which, by the way, is why some churches wrongly emphasize the day and moment when they can remember coming to Christ, surrendering to his will—because to them it isn’t about God creating the faith, but about them choosing Jesus.)

Jesus assures us that faith is a gift revealed by God and placed into an unbeliever’s heart. Therefore it can be revealed even “to little children” who are not yet able to put their meaning into words. Yes, they are saved, because it doesn’t depend on someone making a choice, but on God’s giving. Then, none are too young to believe. To us it may not seem possible because we sometimes over-intellectualize faith. But here and elsewhere Jesus says it is true: even little children can believe. And so we boldly invite believing parents to bring their children for baptism, confident in its saving work. We encourage parents to have devotions, even with little children, because the Holy Spirit works through God’s word. It’s about God’s work, not our choice!

After expressing his joy over his people, then Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Jesus invites all to know him and find rest. Shepherds are concerned about their sheep. Every father or mother desires above all than that their child knows a peaceful life in that delicate middle ground, not without the problems that make one grow, but without the anxieties that eat away at the joy of life. In the same way Jesus desires to give peace to every person in this entire world. He died for us for that very reason. He paid for our sins that we can live eternally. And more than that, he sacrificed himself so that through every step of our lives we can live with eternal rest in front of our eyes and in the back of our minds. And so, day by day, you and I cling to the rest that Jesus gives us.

He gives you rest from the daily drudge by helping you to realize that he has put us in our exact place in life for a reason. “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God!” And in living to his glory, we live for the good of our neighbor.

He gives you rest from the pressures you feel to conform to the expectations of the world and social media. They are always there telling you to live up to their expectations of behavior and beauty and intelligence and success. But Jesus has said that he accepts us, whoever we are, because he has clothed us with his righteousness.

He gives rest from the deep sorrows of heart that don’t go away through the years, but still wake you in the middle of the night over the hurt and the loss. But Jesus reminds you that even these stubborn sorrows will one day be swallowed up in the tear-less joy of heaven.

He gives you rest from the regrets of the past, reminding us that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him.” Even those regrets you have, God will use them for a bigger and better purpose that will work to his glory and the good of his people.

He gives you rest from the guilty conscience and the sin you daily commit. He daily renews you saying, “I will forgive [your] wickedness and remember [your] sins no more.”

Again I ask, “Are you weary and weighed down?”
Jesus has rest for you. Amen.