Proper 9, Year A
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
July 9, 2017
The Rev’d Charles Everson
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
Just two weeks ago, our gospel lesson
from Matthew included some difficult sayings from Jesus like “I have not come
to bring peace, but a sword.” And “I
have come to set a man against his father, and daughter against her mother.” This week, we hear Jesus say, “Come to me,
all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you
rest.” Sounds like two different people
talking, but both are in fact statements that Jesus made as part of the same
discourse. How can that be?
I propose to
you that in both of these passages, Jesus is inviting us to a life of discipleship. Two weeks ago, on Deacon Katie’s first Sunday
here, I was helping out at my home parish, and so you unfortunately missed out
on my riveting sermon on “discipleship
in light of obedience.” I mean, a sermon
on obedience. Sounds exciting, right? Here’s the one minute summary of that
sermon: discipleship means “to learn”, and thus disciples of Jesus are called
to learn from Jesus how to live. As part
of discipleship, we are called to be obedient to our Lord, but not in the way
we typically think of obedience – you know, one person submits to another
person because they have power over them and are afraid of them and are thus
obedient. Rather, Christian obedience is
to listen intently, and to respond, not
only to those who are supposed to have authority over us, but also to the
voices of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. The call to discipleship is a call to radical
obedience – a call to listen to the voice of God, wherever it may be found, and
to respond. Unhesitating obedience to
Christ often costs us dearly and can cause division in our families, in our
friendships, and even in our parish.
The reason I’m giving you the short
version of that sermon is because the final verses we heard today have to be understood
in context. In order to understand this
sweet promise to receive “rest”, we have to start from the understanding that
discipleship is hard work and can ultimately lead to division and strife that
we don’t expect.
When Jesus says
“Take my yoke and learn from me”,
he’s using a word that has the same root as “disciple”, which means
“learner.” He’s not asking us to learn
from him academically or merely spiritually, he’s asking us to take up a way of
life. This way of life – this life of
discipleship – is not easy. It has
costs. A disciple loves the Lord with
all of his or her heart, soul and body.
Living this life of discipleship means we have to give up some things
that we want, and instead put love of God and neighbor ahead of our own desires. But in doing so, we are given rest.
Jesus promises to give us rest, or
using the King James translation as you see on this icon, “I will refresh
you.” When I hear the word rest, I think
of sitting down in a recliner and putting my feet up after a long, exhausting day. Refreshment makes me think of how it feels to
open up a cold beer on a warm, sunny afternoon after having worked in the yard
for a few hours.
The Greek word
“rest” in the New Testament and in the Greek translation of the Old Testament
can refer to Sabbath rest, the rest of death, or rest from war when Israel’s
enemies have been subdued. But more importantly, the idea of “rest” functions
as an image of salvation, of what will be when the world is finally ordered
according to God’s purposes and enjoys its full and complete Sabbath. In promising us “rest,” Jesus promises life
under God’s reign in the new world that he is bringing.[1] This is the “rest” we pray for when we pray
“thy kingdom come” in the Lord’s Prayer – it’s not just a “rest” that will come
when we get to heaven, but “rest” right here, right now. This kingdom we’re praying for isn’t about
humans being snatched up from earth to heaven.
It’s not about eternal rest from human life that we achieve when we
break on through to the other side. It’s
rather the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from heaven to earth. When God’s kingdom comes – when we receive
this “rest” from Jesus – God’s space and ours are finally married and
integrated at last.[2]
What are we
given rest from? Jesus says he will give
rest to those who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens. The original crowds who heard this were
suffering under religious oppression from the Pharisees on the one hand, and
from the Roman imperial system in which the ruling elite secure wealth, status,
and power at the expense of the every day Joe on the other hand. He promises them rest from those things.
But for all of us here today – what is it in our lives that makes us
weary? What heaven burdens are you
bearing in your life?
Jesus is calling you to come to
him. To take up his yoke upon you and
learn from him. To be his disciple. But this call to be Jesus’s disciple isn’t a
call to try to merely imitate some man who lived on earth 2,000 years ago and
has left us. We are called to be his
disciple by relying on the ongoing
presence of Jesus in the world today. This ongoing presence is also included in what
Jesus means by “rest.”[3] Thank God we aren’t called to imitate Christ
all alone, but instead by relying on the ongoing presence of Jesus. How does this ongoing presence of Jesus
manifest itself in the world? Through
prayer, in silence and contemplation, through community and fellowship with
fellow Christians, in recreational activities.
But today, I’d like to focus on the way in which we receive rest at the
altar rail. I’m not sure about you, but
I can sometimes lose focus during the second half of the service and become
numb to what’s going on. But this thing
we are about to do here [point at altar] is really, really important. In a moment, we will ask the Holy Spirit to set
aside bread and wine to be for us the Body and Blood of Jesus, the holy food
and drink of new and unending life in him.
And then we will come forward and receive the refreshing nourishment
that he offers us in the bread of heaven and the cup of salvation. We will receive a rest more profound and more
complete than we possibly could by putting up our feet after a long, exhausting
day. We will be refreshed more deeply
than we could ever be by opening up a cold one on a warm, summer
afternoon. In the Eucharist, God’s
heavenly kingdom breaks into our earthly world and nourishes us with the rest
and refreshment that only Jesus can offer.
Put another way, in the Eucharist, heaven kisses earth. And it is only after we are fed with this
heavenly food and drink that we are sent out into the world so that we may
“continue in that holy fellowship, and do all such good works as he has
prepared for us to walk in.”
We are invited this morning to bring
our weariness and our burdens to Jesus.
To take up his yoke and learn from him.
To do our best to live the life of a disciple, following our Lord
throughout the ups and downs of life.
But thankfully, we are not left to do this alone. Week after week, we are invited to the altar
to receive our Lord in the bread and wine of Holy Communion and to thus receive
the rest and refreshment we need to go out into the world to love and serve the
Lord. Amen.
[2] N.
T. Wright, The Lord and His Prayer (Grand Rapids, MI: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014), 24.
