Memorial Day
The Rest of the Story
Matthew 11:25-30
May 25, 2008
Often quoted and very familiar to even people who don’t follow Jesus is His declaration, “Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” This is an amazing passage with a whole host of applications that can be derived. But do we really understand what Jesus means by it? This passage is full of cultural specific references that could easily be lost if we don’t understand the cultural setting that Jesus was referring to.
Rest has been the theme of the day. In Communion. Memorial Day is a day off for many people. It is a day of rest. We remember those who are “resting from their labors.” (Which is one of the applications that I have heard for this passage). But do we really know what Jesus meant by “rest” in this story? So let’s look at the rest of the story. Turn to Matthew 11:25-30.
Reverend Ole was the pastor of the local Norwegian Lutheran Church, and Pastor Sven was the minister of the Swedish Covenant Church across the road.
They got together and decided to work on a join ministry project—an outreach project. Together they put a sign into the ground, that read:
“Da End iss Near! Turn Yourself Aroundt Now! Before It’s Too Late!”
As a car sped past them, the driver leaned out his window and yelled, “Leave us alone, you religious nuts!”
From the curve there came screeching tires and a big splash....
Rev. Ole turns to Pastor Sven and asks, “Do ya tink maybe da sign should yust say ’Bridge Out’?”
At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, 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."
Let’s look at this passage. First of all, let me ask you a question. Jesus says, “I praise you Father because you have hidden these things.”
A Few Questions
What things are hidden? Ways of God
Specifically, it was the things that Jesus was teaching the people. These things that he taught were the ways of God. They were all based on his modified Shema of loving God and loving others.
How are they known? Revealed
Specifically they are being taught but not in the usual sense. What is the usual sense that religious things are taught? Through a Rabbi and disciple model. A young man that thinks he may have an aptitude for a particular Rabbi’s teaching goes to the Rabbi and ask to be considered to be a disciple. It was a great honor for parents especially the father for a son to be accepted.
The Rabbi asks questions of the potential disciples not to see how much he knows but to see if he really does get it: to see if the young boy really might be able to not just learn the facts but to live out the life of the Rabbi. The Rabbit is seeking to reproduce his life in the disciple. After many years of living and serving, maybe one day the disciple might be able to have some authority to do some of the teaching. Maybe when he was about thirty (How was Jesus when he started his ministry? Thirty) the disciple might actually be able to consider his own disciples.
Now the things that the Rabbi instilled in his disciples were the things that were instilled in him when he was a disciple. Nothing new was usually added unless there came an exceptional candidate that might actually have authority to add to the teaching or even create something new. But this happened once in a lifetime, maybe…
Jesus has already repeated this idea in chapter 10:24-25 when he said, “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.” The whole goal of the student was to be like his teacher.
Yet, Jesus had no Rabbi. He was a carpenter’s son. We don’t know exactly why Jesus was not given to a Rabbi. Probably for economic reasons. Tradition has it that Joseph died when Jesus was young. Perhaps Joseph was sick and Jesus just needed to help provide for the family.
Regardless, Jesus had no Rabbi. What he taught was given to him from a different source.
Who are they from? From the Father through Son
These things were unique. People recognized that Jesus had an incredible authority. He taught a new way. The way of God’s Kingdom.
People would have been familiar with several options for living. They could choose to collaborate with the Romans like the Sadducees and even the tax collectors. They could choose to live according to a high standard of rules and regulations designed (supposedly) to gain God’s favor by being good righteous people (tsadiqs) who then would return Israel to its former glory. They could also choose to be rebels like the Zealots and help God usher in the this return with guerilla warfare and rebellions. They could also leave it all behind and live in secluded little communities like the Essenes.
Jesus offers us a different way. It is not one of compromise and collaboration. It is about doing what is right in God’s eyes in such a way that people see a real person who love God and loves others. It doesn’t burden people with impossible standards that end up creating different classes of people with the really righteous people as the ones who make up the rules so that they can continue to make up the rules. Jesus calls his people to serve others. It is not about bloodshed but about loving your enemy. It is not about withdrawal but about loving engagement.
Jesus got it all from God.
Who receives them? Disciples
Literally, the children are disciples that didn’t scour the rules and regulations. They didn’t train at the schools run by the religious authorities. They were taught firsthand by the Son of God. And for Matthew’s community (this is who his gospel is written for), they are reminded that even though they have been disowned by their people and sometimes their families, they are the truly faithful ones who have gotten what God is doing.
Who doesn’t get it? Religious authorities
As I have said, the religious authorities don’t get it. In fact, this passage is really against them as we’ll see in a moment.
What does this have to do with rest and yokes?
What is a yoke?
Farming equipment
Yokes tie two oxen together so that they can share the load of plowing (and other work) and spread the burden easily across their broad shoulders. Imagine how difficult it would be if one oxen wanted to do his own thing and go a different way.
In fact, Jesus says that the ways of God are really easy if you follow his ways. The moment we begin to stray and do our own thing and try to go a different direction, we over-burden ourselves with stresses and weights that we were never intended to carry. Not only that the picture is that Jesus is the lead oxen who bears most of the burden while we are there to come alongside and should our portion, which is nothing compared to what Jesus carries for us or what we might have to carry on our own.
But there is more to it than that. It is also about teaching.
Teaching
In Jesus’ day, the teaching of a Rabbi was said to be his “yoke.” Jesus is saying that as our Rabbi who teaches us the ways of God’s Kingdom, his yoke is nothing like the rest of the religious rulers. His yoke is not meant to weighs us down to convince us that we are no good and could never do anything good or right and could never be as good a tsadiq as the religious rulers. Their rules brought people down. They were too much. No normal person could ever fulfill all the rules. Only the religious rulers (because it was their job) could actually do it all. And Jesus emphasizes that they didn’t even do it all.
Jesus didn’t come to burden us with a list of rules and regulations and things that holy people do and don’t do. Oh, he still calls us to be holy but not according to some manmade list: don’t drink, don’t ever go into a bar or a pub, don’t go to movies, don’t play cards, don’t wear this clothing, read your bible at such and such, pray in this particular way and so on. Now there are some of these things that might be extremely beneficial and important to be aware of but if you are serious about pursuing God and God’s ways, then God through Jesus will reveal to you through his spirit and through his Word and through his people what he needs for you to do when he feels you are ready to do with his strength for you to do it. And here is the tension, many times we don’t really want to hear what God desires for us. We wish we could but we don’t really want to.
Jesus says come to me. Not a list of rules. Not a set of expectations whether they are realistic or not. Come to me personally. Feeling burdened by life. Feeling burdened by providing all that you want to provide for you family. The opportunities. The experiences. Sometimes we get burdened by religion: programs and ministries. Sometimes in a good way but sometimes we just get to the point where you feel like people are sucking you dry.
The yoke of Jesus is supposed to be light. That is what he means by easy. He doesn’t mean that you do nothing. In fact, it doesn’t mean that you won’t be challenged. It also doesn’t mean that you won’t have to step out in faith. In fact, it is quite the opposite.
The easy yoke is being refreshed. Soaring on the wings of eagles that God gives us. It means that we are weak and in our weakness we rely completely, totally on his strength.
I want to give you time to rest. I want to give you time to catch your breath. Relish the presence of God. Don’t just taste but savor his grace. Listen for the quiet voice of God. You don’t need to clamor for God’s attention. You have his full attention. Perhaps what we need is for God to have our full attention.
We’ll spend about five minutes in quiet, restful contemplation. If you need some suggestions as to what to do, I have included several in the sermon notes.
Suggestions
• Focus on your breathing. Breathe in the Spirit of God and breathe out any tension, stress, sin or burden that you carry. Let the Spirit flow through you with each breathe in and let the burdens flow out of you.
• Visualize yourself in the presence of Jesus. Imagine him calling your name to come. See the immense love for you in his eyes.
• Use a word or phrase and repeat over and over as you take deep breathes and then exhale. Ex. “love,” “abba,” “I love you lord,” “my savior.”
