Trinity 5, Year A
First Reading : Zechariah 9.9-12
Gospel : Matthew 11.16-19, 25-30
This morning’s gospel reading concludes with some of Jesus’ best loved promises. When we are feeling burdened and stressed, as we all do from time to time, we love to hear the voice of Jesus calling us to come to him for rest. Just listening to his words and allowing them to take root in our hearts is enough to take the stress out of some situations. At the same time we know that the demands of discipleship are not an easy ride, just as Jesus’ own devotion to his Father’s will was utterly demanding, even when He knew that in prayer He could count on His Father’s reassurance. This delicate balance is constantly reflected in Matthew’s account of Jesus’ teaching, and I want to spend a few minutes this morning exploring that balance, which can help us to ride the bumps in the road as we discover what it really means to find rest not just for our weary bodies but for our troubled souls.
Come unto me, you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. The reference to heavy burdens is probably aimed at the Pharisees, whom Matthew sees as the enemies of Jesus, representing the antithesis of his teaching. Elsewhere (Matthew 23.4) he accuses them of tying up heavy burdens hard to bear and then doing nothing to help the people to carry them. Judaism was built around observance of the Law, which was designed to establish a sure foundation for godly living, but the demands of a narrow form of Pharisaic legalism, as well as the uncertainties of ever-proliferating case law, had made the scrupulous observance of the law increasingly burdensome. Whilst the metaphor of the yoke was often used to characterize oppression, particularly the oppression of foreign rule (e.g. Jeremiah 27, 28), it was also used to characterize Israel’s liberating obedience to God under the Law (e.g. Jeremiah 2.20). After all, the function of a well-designed yoke is to make a burden easier to carry. The prophet Jeremiah even promises ‘rest for your souls’ if the people will only look to see where the good way lies, and walk in it (Jeremiah 6.16). His complaint (Jer 6.16, Jer 2.20) is precisely their refusal to do so: ’I will not serve; we will not walk in it’ they say. They were a stubborn lot. I have more sympathy for the failure of Jesus’ generation to embrace the burdensome requirements of later Pharisaic interpretations of the Law.
Jesus’ attitude to the Law is by no means a relaxed posture of ‘anything goes’. On the contrary he insists that he has come not to abolish the law but to fulfil it, and anyone who ‘breaks the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven’ (Matt 5.17-20). We are urged to enter by the narrow gate, to take the hard road that leads to life. Unless we build on these solid foundations, our life’s house will be swept away when the floods come (Matt 7.13-27).
In the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5.13-20), Jesus’ own teaching is summarized in a new moral code. Here the bar is set even higher. We are not merely required to refrain from doing wrong. In the Beatitudes the old laws requiring us to love God and our neighbor are translated into a long list of positive characteristics which would have the capacity to transform the world, if only we could succeed in putting them into practice. We are to be meek, rather than grasping, hungry for righteousness, peacemakers, merciful, poor in spirit, pure in heart (Matt 5.3-11). As you will remember, this way of life was too much for the rich young ruler when Jesus told him that he would have to sell his possessions and give the money to the poor if he was to have eternal life (Matt 19.17-22). He could keep all the old negative commandments, but he could not give up the possessions which made him who he was. I do wonder how many of us, myself included, would find ourselves in a similar quandary, if Jesus were to put us on the spot, like that young man..
Finding the right way to follow Jesus is not easy unless we are ready to learn how, as the majority of those who heard Jesus speak were not. They were like children refusing to play the game. Like the ordinary people of the little towns around the lake of Galilee, they took his miracles for granted, thinking they knew who he was and where he came from. They just did not get it. They just did not understand how close Jesus was to His Father’s will. By contrast Jesus feels able to give thanks for the faith of the little group around him, blessed with the simple trust in him that a child has for a loving parent. It is to this group of very ordinary folk, with a simple trust in his leadership that Jesus’ Father, in his Wisdom, has chosen to reveal the truth about Him. When you remember just how slow they really were to cotton on, these verses are themselves a leap of faith, bearing testimony as they do to Jesus’ unshakeable faith in the wisdom of His Father, who must know what He’s doing.
Jesus goes on to invite all who are worn out and carrying heavy burdens to come to him for rest. Rest may in fact be a somewhat misleading translation. I’m told that the word used could just as well mean relief. When we are stressed and can’t see how to cope, He is ready with the gentle nudge of guidance which calms us down, gives us peace and enables us to find the way forward. We do need to put our trust in him and accept the yoke of his leadership, but when we do so, we find – as he promises – that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. We may not find rest, if by rest we mean lying down in the sunshine on a grassy bank with our eyes half shut. We may very likely be given things to do for his sake. But we will find that rest for our souls which comes from knowing that with his help we are on the right track, the track he wants us to follow; and if there are burdens to be carried, we will be given the strength to carry them.
How can we be so sure? In the end it is a question of faith, of personal trust. We trust Him because we know that he is gentle and humble in heart, just the sort of thoughtful, unassuming, considerate leader we all crave in our working lives, with a clear vision, and a promise we can trust of all the guidance and support we will need to carry forward the task he has assigned.
Jesus says: Come unto me, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and you will find rest for your souls. Thanks be to God.