Loving God, you offer not only rest for our souls but life in all its fulness through Jesus Christ. Strengthen us in our faith this day by the power of your Spirit, that we might be faithful witnesses to the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For those who are really worn out, the last part of today's gospel sounds like very good news: "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest" (Mt. 11:28). Our first thought is probably of flopping down on a bed somewhere and finally having peace and rest. However, I've long been suspicious that there's more to it than that. In fact, simply in reading the following verses one might think that a little bit more is involved, especially when we're talking about taking a yoke and putting it on. This doesn't sound like doing nothing, yet in doing so, we are promised rest for our souls.

In giving this promise, Jesus is giving new meaning to what has already been written in the Scriptures. The prophet Jeremiah wrote about finding rest for your souls. He points to God's Law given to Moses when God made a covenant with the Israelites. Jeremiah reminds the people that in keeping their part of the covenant they will find rest for their souls (Jer. 6:16). However, now Jesus is saying that such rest is to be found through him (Mt. 11:29).

There was also mention in much of the wisdom literature to come to Wisdom in order to find rest. Wisdom is personified as a woman who is inviting people to come to her. In Sirach (found in the Apocrypha), it is written:

Come to her with all your soul, and keep her ways with all your might....For at last you will find the rest she gives, and she will be changed into joy for you....Her yoke is a golden ornament, and her bonds are a cord of blue (6:26, 28, 30).

It also says later in Sirach that under the yoke of wisdom your souls receive instruction, and just a little labour will lead to much rest and serenity (Sir. 51:26-27).

People in Jesus' day would have recognized that he was echoing the words that had been attributed to Wisdom. Yet, this rest is no longer to be found in Wisdom, but in Christ, who is the "wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1:24). So previously, rest had been promised through obedience to the Jewish Law and through learning from Wisdom. Now, rest is promised through Jesus.

As for the heavy burdens that are being carried by people, these seem to be the burden of obeying God's Law. The gospel of Luke records Jesus saying: "Woe also to you lawyers! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them" (Lk. 11:46). The lawyers to whom Jesus speaks are those who have studied the Torah, or the Jewish Law. However, they have been adding more and more details over the years as to precisely how one should keep this Law. For example, the commandment to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy had been expanded into a long list of rules as to what things were forbidden on the Sabbath. Keeping the Law was becoming more and more burdensome.

However, the Law was not given in order to be a burden, but in order that people would be blessed through living in communion with God and with one another. If you think about the 10 commandments, every single one of them is aimed at creating right relationships both with God and with other people. When people break those commandments, their lives and the lives of other people are worse as a result.

Really, the basic question here is, Why would you obey God? Why would you live by the commandments? Why would you live the life that God intended for you? Why would you live in obedience to the commands of Jesus? There are actually three possibilities that come to mind. We might obey in order to seek blessings for ourselves. We might obey out of fear, or we might obey out of love for Jesus.

The first two of these are actually Old Testament ideas, and yet many people still live by them. The Law of Moses contained a long list of blessings and curses for those who either keep or break the covenant. The blessings listed include a fruitful land, protection from and victory over enemies, prosperity, and many children (Deut. 28:1-14). These things were promised to all those who obey God and keep all the commandments. Thus, many might want to obey God in order to be blessed in this way.

Today, it would seem that many people try to make their own covenants with God. They figure that if they try to be good, go to church and try to do the right thing, then God should reward them with good things. However, if this is actually how things work, then Jesus' life, death and resurrection were really not necessary. If God is going to reward us for trying to be good, then we really have no need of Jesus. He must have wasted his time in giving his life for us! And yet, many still see obedience to God as a way to get blessings and as a way into heaven. The thing is, though, that we could never do enough good to deserve either one!

Now, of course, we could also obey God out of fear. Many over the years have preached about the agonies of hell as a means of scaring people into obedience. In the Law of Moses, too, there was a long list of curses that would happen if people broke God's covenant. For disobedience, the people could expect war, disaster, panic, frustration, famine, poverty, exile and disease (Deut. 28:15-68). Presumably people would strive to obey God's Law in order to avoid such things. In fact, I would bet that there are people today, too, who strive to obey God out of a fear of hell or of what God might do to them if they don't obey. Certainly, this was Martin Luther's constant fear. He frequently wrote about his fear of eternal damnation. That's why it was such a relief to him when he realized that his salvation was not based upon whether he had done enough in order to "get in." Rather, it is God's grace that brings us salvation, which we grasp onto through faith.

Now, I mentioned earlier that obeying God out of hope for blessing or out of fear were both Old Testament ideas. However, when Jesus came, he made a new covenant with us, sealed with his own blood. This covenant, too, has blessings and curses attached to it. Yet, neither hope for blessing nor fear of punishment are lifted up as particularly good reasons for obedience. Rather, we are taught to live as God intended us to live out of love for Jesus Christ. Really, this means living in God's Way because we want to, and not because we are forced to. This means obeying and imitating Jesus because we believe in him. As one commentator remarks, "Why wouldn't a Christian want to live a disciplined and evangelical life out of gratitude for all that God has done for us in Christ?" (Stoffregen).

Of course, the apostle Paul writes about not being able to do the good that he wants to do (Rom. 7:19). Under our own direction, we are still dominated by the power of sin. However, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, we are enabled to both want and to do what is right.

Actually, when we live out of gratitude to God for the grace which we have received - both in the blessings we have been given and in the salvation that is ours through Christ - we never need to ask the question as to whether we have kept the whole law or have done enough to be saved. Whereas in the Law of Moses there were a total of 613 commandments, Jesus narrowed it down to two: loving God with our whole being and loving our neighbour as ourselves. With any of the specific commandments that Jesus mentioned (for example adultery or stealing or greed), it is easy to see how these things do not show love for God or for other people. Even for situations that Jesus may not have addressed directly, we can always ask ourselves what action would show love towards God, towards others and towards ourselves.

Rather than giving us a long list of do's and don'ts, Jesus is inviting us - calling us - to yoke ourselves to him. Think of it as a double yoke, where we and Jesus are working together, and we are simply letting Jesus take the lead and learning from him and imitating him. Even better, think of it as a single yoke, where we have come to know Christ so intimately that his Spirit lives within us! Either way, it is not a heavy burden to bear, especially when we are simply responding out of love for the one who first loved us! Amen.

Proper 9(A) Matthew 11:28-30
July 3, 2005
St. Luke's Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison Moore

? 2005 Lynne Hutchison Moore All Rights Reserved