Sermon for Pentecost 5: "Jesus is Our Rest"

+ 5^th Sunday after Pentecost – July 5^th, 2020 +

Series A: Zechariah 9:9-12; Romans 7:14-25; Matthew 11:25-30

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

I think it’s safe to say that in one way or another, Jesus’ words hit home. As I read this text throughout this week, I couldn’t help but think of John Coffey, a character in Stephen King’s famous book, The Green Mile. As he sat on death row facing a death sentence of which he was innocent, he lamented:

“I'm tired, boss. Tired of being on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. I'm tired of never having me a buddy to be with to tell me where we's going to, coming from, or why. Mostly, I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world...every day. There's too much of it.” 

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Jesus first spoke these words to his disciples in Matthew 11. Persecution was coming. They would be rejected. Even the great John the Baptist was imprisoned. No doubt they were tired physically, mentally, spiritually. 

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

If there’s been a common answer to the question, “How are you doing?” After we get through our token response of “I’m fine and doing good,” most of us will admit that we’re tired.

Tired of news and talk about COVID-19. Tired of unrest and injustice in our cities across the country. Tired of illness infecting our loved ones. Tired of turning on the news or scrolling through social media and seeing nothing but bad news. You’ve probably heard of compassion fatigue, now we have caution fatigue and even Zoom fatigue. The sense of weariness in the world is real. No doubt we’ve all felt it or experienced it these past few months. 

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

There’s another kind of weariness or fatigue that presses in and weighs us down. The burden of living in a broken, fallen world in broken, fallen bodies and minds. The weariness of our own sin. Of death itself. Scripture teaches us that sin is deadly, and it is. But it’s also exhausting. Draining. Physically, mentally, spiritually. As St. Augustine once wrote, “Our hearts are restless, O Lord, until they find their rest in Thee.”

This is what St. Paul is revealing for us in Romans 7:

¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

²¹ So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! 

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

There’s much to meditate upon in our Lord’s words. But in our weary world. In our tiredness of sin and death, Jesus’ words of rest are exactly what we need. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

What’s truly remarkable is how Jesus comes and gives us rest. He doesn’t wait for us to clean up our act and get right with God, “for while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” Jesus doesn’t require us to first be strong and then come to him, “for his grace is sufficient in our weakness.” Jesus came to save sinners, weary, tired, broken down, unable to help ourselves sinners. 

A bruised reed, He will not break. A smoldering wick, He will not snuff out. So, for those who have tried and are tired, for those who have denied and now doubt, for those who once cared but now cannot, Jesus is here; calling… lifting… carrying… you. All the way with him from his death on the cross through the grave, and up again into new resurrected life. It’s an exchange of cosmic and gracious proportions

 

On the cross Jesus takes our weakness and gives us his strength. Jesus takes our sin and gives us his perfect life. Jesus takes our despair, suffering, and pain, and gives us his peace, mercy, and healing. Jesus takes our death and gives us his life. Jesus takes our weariness and gives us rest in him.

 

Our rest is in Jesus. Jesus gathers about Him all who are burdened or broken. The downtrodden and the debilitated, the meek and the mourning, the despised, and the suffering, these are the ones Jesus gathers. Why? Because He is not going to rely on human wisdom or strength. In humble obedience, He accomplishes the will of His Father. 

Jesus did not come to win but to lose. He came to be beaten, to be broken, to be cast aside, and to die: For you. And then He rose again so you might know that no failure, no weakness, no sin, no suffering will ever separate you from your Father’s love. Your Savior has borne all sin, endured all suffering, that He might bring all God’s grace to all the weary of this world.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.