Jesus today seems frustrated. He doesn’t get the people’s attitude. Those around him criticized John the Baptist as being possessed by a demon because he didn’t eat or drink in the ordinary way that other people did – he ate locusts and wild honey. But then they criticized Jesus for eating and drinking with the wrong people calling him a glutton and a drunkard.
Jesus sees the fickle nature of humanity and how we turn the blessings of God into burdens. He then prays aloud to God thanking him that he has hidden his truths from the wise and the intelligent – adults – and revealed his inner secrets to children. Which is something we hear quite often from Jesus – Let the children come to me for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus knows that if he is feeling this way then certainly his disciples who come after him will experience the same frustrations in the new church. But rather than giving up he says: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” This is quite a contrast to what we’ve been hearing Jesus say lately. For the past few weeks, Jesus has been talking about the turmoil in the cost of discipleship –persecution, conflict, suffering and painful division especially in families for those who choose to follow him – all the world will hate you because of me. It’s interesting as we look at Jesus’ offer that it doesn’t primarily mean problems and burdens of a physical nature – such as too many bills, or being unemployed, or sick, or stressful work conditions.
Jesus is talking quite specifically about those who have spiritual burdens in their relationship with God. And these can be much more burdensome and wearying than physical burdens. In fact, Jesus himself is showing that spiritual exhaustion when it came to the criticism of himself and John the Baptist. We get a glimpse of what that spiritual burden looks like in Christians with Paul who tried all of the usual ways of finding some peace with God and achieved only frustration and weariness. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. For I know that nothing good dwells within me. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? And then he finds that release of his spiritual burden – the Spiritual rest that Jesus offered. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Spiritual weariness should never be underestimated in the harm it can do to us. Sometimes we don’t realise the spiritual burdens we are going through unlike the physical burdens. Physical burdens are easy to see – tiredness in particular. Physical burdens can be dealt with by physical rest. An early night – a day off – holidays – long service leave or as we call it – recuperative leave. But spiritual burdens are not dealt with in the same way. We don’t deal with spiritual burdens by taking a rest from church or by taking a time out from our prayer life or bible reading. Jesus gives us an invitation to take his yoke.
A yoke is a device that spreads across 2 or more necks. You might see 2 oxen sharing the weight of a plough. So Jesus is offering to help us carry the weight rather than removing it. And that’s what we find often happens when we come to Jesus with our burdens. He lightens them but doesn’t necessarily remove them.
What Paul was dealing with and what was Jesus was addressing was the burden that we carry when we misunderstand our relationship with God. The Pharisees of Jesus time put great burdens on the people through laws. They took the 10 Commandments – a gift from God – and they turned them into 616 burdensome laws which saw Jesus rebuked because he healed on the Sabbath – because he ate with tax collectors and sinners – because he refused to condemn a woman caught in adultery – because he allowed a woman of ill-repute to wash his feet – and no doubt a whole lot more. Paul also found that the more he tried to obey the law the more his sin convicted him with guilt. Luther found the same burdens placed on the people of his day particularly the peasants who could not afford to purchase the indulgences to free their loved ones from purgatory.
So this is a challenge to us today as the same burdens continue to weigh down many people who are seeking a relationship with God but must first get their lives in order. It’s not saying that God’s commands or obedience has been abolished. No. Jesus himself has said that. Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them – for YOU. And that last part is the crucial part – I have come to fulfill them.
The law can place a heavy burden of guilt on us.
But Jesus has come to assure us that God’s grace is there to bring comfort and relief. As Paul discovered – Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So there are 2 aspects to what we read today.
First – Jesus is dealing with people who use the Law to supress people, like the Pharisees did. The Law suppresses people when it should lead people to the Gospel. In many cases people don’t need the law because they know they fall short of pleasing God. But Jesus fulfilled what we couldn’t without abolishing the requirements of the Law. To use the wording of our reformers from Luther’s day – the Law always convicts – it never comforts. So Jesus saw his mission as a healer, as he said when he was asked why he ate with sinners: Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” And that why he offers rest for the soul by taking his yoke. He doesn’t abolish the law and its demands but offers to carry them with us and for us. Take my yoke – it is light – I’ve fulfilled the law for you. So when the burden of guilt weighs you down – come to me and hear the Good News that you have been forgiven. The law has not been abolished but the burden of the law and the guilt it causes have been abolished through grace.
And then, secondly, we see the personal application of grace to the demands of the law in Paul’s life. The good I want to do I do not do – the evil I know I should not do, this I keep on doing. What a mess Paul found his life in – who will save me from this body of death. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So if you’ve found the burden of guilt continuing to weigh you down – come to Jesus and let him give you rest for your soul. To come to Jesus is to receive a free gift of grace. To come to Jesus is to discover, as Paul discovered, that “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” To come to Jesus is to discover that the task of getting it all correct is replaced by the absolute gift of God’s grace.
All the heavy topics we’ve been hearing the past few weeks about the cost of discipleship is still very much there. But the yoke of Jesus is easy for us to bear. It leads to life and to be embraced by God’s mercy. We are called to this new yoke of grace, not to a law, or to a set of rules.
We are called to a person and a community built around God’s grace where we find its richest fulfillment, and its deepest satisfaction. Jesus said and continues to say, “Come to me and I will give you rest.”
