“Is Your Summer One of Rest?”
Matthew 11:25-30
INI
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Do you know what the “R”s of summer are? Refreshment...rest...relaxation! Summer has long been associated with “lazy days” or “the dog days of summer.” High temperatures and high humidity lend themselves to sitting in front of a fan or lounging in an air-conditioned room. Maybe rest and relaxation are found on a beach, or with a rod and reel in your hand. Perhaps you get away during the summer months by going to family reunions…visiting friends in other parts of the country…or just going somewhere to reconnect with those you’re closest to. Summer sure seems like a time of rest, and despite the high gas prices, there’s still a pretty steady stream of travelers coming up this way to the lakes of northern Minnesota, all looking to get away from their jobs…their stresses…their frustrations with the daily grind.
Did you know the Bible places a very high priority on rest? In fact, the theme of rest is right there in the very first two chapters of the Bible…remember what God did on the seventh day of creation? Of course you know that already…he rested. Obviously God being Almighty, we know that he didn’t need to rest because he was tired. He “rested” from his creating work as a means of sanctifying everything he had just made. In other words, by means of establishing the day of rest, God was stating that this creation was his and it was under his care. He would provide for it. He would watch over it. And above all things he would treasure it as valuable and important. Often times one of my kids will build something with Legos or Lincoln Logs and then they’ll run out of the room and forget it’s there. Then someone will come in and accidentally knock over what they’ve built, or pick up the blocks for them, and they’ll be upset that what they built was destroyed. God never leaves his creation behind. He values it as his own and watches over its every movement. The very first act of his that establishes this is the day of rest. Notice how that day is always included as part of creation! We never talk about God creating the world in six days. We always refer to it as “seven days.” God did not create anything on the seventh day, but his resting is an important part of the entire event.
God also established that his people should rest the seventh day. He commanded his chosen people Israel to “Remember the Sabbath day”…the Third commandment. The people of God were not to work on that day. They were not to prepare food. They were not to do anything but rest from their labors. Their food was to be gathered the day before. The necessary work for that day was to be done the day before. They were to follow in God’s footsteps at creation by setting aside that Sabbath day to rest from the weekly routine. There’s an account in Numbers 15 where a man is caught outside gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. When the man is brought to Moses and Aaron, they go before God to find out what do with him. God commands them to take the man outside and stone him because he failed to keep the Sabbath rest. Obviously rest is not just something nice God suggests his people do. It’s something he commands them.
Jesus then gives the exhortation to his disciples of all the ages to do the same…“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” What Jesus is saying is not just a mere suggestion…or a casual invite. It’s a command. “Come to me.” “Take my yoke upon you.” This is a directive from the Lord…it should be done. If you and I fail to find the rest of Jesus Christ, the fate will be the same as of the twig collector…our lives will be taken away from us. Believe it or not, it’s for your own good. Remember the Gospel texts for the past couple of weeks? Remember all the hardship it said that disciples of Jesus Christ would face? Remember how God’s Word divides families and splits people apart? Remember how disciples are forced to carry crosses? You need rest from that burden. You need rest from that labor.
This past Wednesday at Bible Breakfast, we discussing a question that asked, “Why do you go to church on Sunday mornings?” One of the words that was repeated several times was the word “refreshed.” Usually when we use the word “refreshed,” we think of things such as a cool dip in a pool on a hot day, or an ice cold beer after a day of hard labor. In either case, the refreshment is the removal of a burden…the dip in the pool removes the burden of the day’s heat. The cold beer removes the burden of the stress of work. Jesus obviously “refreshes” us as he removes our burdens…so does Jesus amount to some sort of “spiritual dip in the pool?” While a cool swim or a cold beer may distract you from the burdens of this world, neither of them can remove your burdens from you completely.
Where are you going this summer to remove your burdens…to find your rest? Where do you go at any other time of year for that matter? You and I all know the people, or perhaps have been the people, who have tried to find rest in a bottle of booze…in the bed of someone not your spouse…or in the ease of swiping your credit card. Even if you’re not an alcoholic…an adulterer…or a collection notice away from bankruptcy…the world loves to offer you places to find your “rest”…ways to remove your burdens. Maybe it’s the new self-help book that Oprah’s touting to help you get your own life on track…or perhaps its just that old ego that loves to be stroked every now and then. St. Paul talks about that ego…that sinful nature…in the Epistle today. “I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” There is not a Christian on earth who wakes up and says, “I want to do evil today…I want to serve Satan and my sinful flesh rather than God.” Every Christian wants to serve God perfectly…and still none of them do. The flesh looks for rest and the removal of burdens everywhere else but in Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ gives you rest, by bearing the greatest burden in the world for you. He bears the burden of the Law that convicted Paul and sends people running for some sort of respite. He fulfilled everything that the Law requires in your place. Because he bears the burden of the Law, it also means he bears the burden of sin for you. When he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, as our Old Testament lesson reminds us, humble and mounted on a donkey, he rode that beast of burden to become our beast of burden. Here, two days removed from Independence Day, our Old Testament lesson draws our attention back to the beginning of Holy Week, where Jesus Christ became the burden-bearer for each and every one of us.
Jesus carried the burden of our sins to his death, in order that you and I might have rest. The man who picked up sticks on the Sabbath day? His sin was resisting the rest that God had offered him. Instead, he bore the burden of sin that required his life. Carrying the burden of sin always leads to death. That’s why Jesus carries it for us. He carries the burden of sin to the cross to free you and me from the eternal grasp of death, making his cross and salvation a respite for you and me. Those who try to find other means to remove their burdens only find death and damnation. But Jesus promises eternal rest and true refreshment for our souls. In place of carrying sin and shame upon our shoulders, he gives us his yoke to carry that is light. The true mark of being a Christian…the yoke we carry is that we repeatedly place our sins on Jesus Christ our Lord. The yoke…the burden he places upon us is to place our sins upon him…to let him bear the burden for us.
I read a beautiful quote this week from our Synod’s first president, C.F.W. Walther. He writes, “No person can then say, ‘Oh, that God would come from heaven and Himself speak with me and promise me righteousness and eternal life! Then I would believe and be joyful!’ For God truly speaks with every person through the Gospel. In it, He promises righteousness and eternal life and seals this promise with the Holy Sacraments. These three means of grace are the audible and visible representatives of the triune God on earth—God’s mouth, voice, and hand—and they give Christ’s righteousness. They are the receipt God makes out and delivers after Christ paid the debt of all people.” (God Grant It, pgs. 577-578)
When Jesus says, “Come to me…I will give you rest,” let none of us ever think that this is some sort of spiritual “cold beer” or “dip in the pool.” Christ gives us real refreshment and you and I find it in the Word and the Holy Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The waters of Holy Baptism are the refreshing waters that do not just cool us…but drown the sinful Old Adam in each of us. The bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper are more than just food and drink to fill our bellies, but the very body and blood of Jesus to forgive us our sins. The Word of the Gospel is where Jesus comes to be with us as he has promised…to bear our sins upon himself and give us his promised rest. May all of us as God’s people cherish this rest this summer and all year long! In Jesus’ name…Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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