Rest Unto Your Souls – March 10, 2024, the Fourth Sunday in Lent

Isaiah 55:6-13, Matthew 10-12 (11:25-30)
March 10, 2024

As I said, the scripture lesson is not a misprint.  It is Matthew 10-12.  And no, I was never planning on reading all three of those chapters to you. After all, you’ve already lost an hour of your lives today! Right?

The thing is, I hadn’t read Matthew straight through in a long time.  And as I looked at this section, I was taken aback by how much of it was not so easy to read!  There’s a lot of controversy and warnings in these three chapters!  And though there’s some tough stuff, I think it gives a huge context for the passage I’m focusing in on today.  In the midst of the difficulties, Jesus said, “Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

So, take some time this week to read through those three chapters, though.  You’ll see what I mean.  In the meantime, here’s a quick synopsis.

Chapter 10 begins with Jesus sending out the twelve disciples with his message about the kingdom of God.  He sends them out – like his advanced guard!  But he does not paint a very nice picture of what they would face!  He told them he was sending them as “Sheep in the midst of wolves.”  “Beware of men!” he said.  “For they will deliver you up to councils, flog you in the synagogues, and drag you before governors and kings for my sake.” (Matthew 10:16-18)  That doesn’t sound very nice, does it?

Then, after that, there follows two chapters about the difficulties he himself faced.  In the first one, chapter 11, he was trying to get the people to understand the ministry of John the Baptist.  If you read that, you’ll see how Jesus lamented that they didn’t follow John, even though he was Elijah that was to come!.  And he went on to say that they wouldn’t follow him, either.  He told them how bad it would be for the cities who saw great the works that were done in them, and did not respond.  He even called out his adopted home town Capernaum, saying, “It shall be more tolerable on judgement day for the land of Sodom, than for them!”  I wonder what those who were listening thought about that!

In chapter 12 – the third in this trilogy of chapters I’m putting together for you – there are several personal encounters between Jesus and the religious authorities.  And there we find Jesus “stepping up his game” even more!  (Remember that from last week?)

First, the Pharisees took him to task, because his disciples were plucking grain on the Sabbath.  That was “harvesting,” they said.  In other words, they were doing work on the Sabbath.  And in that story Jesus reminds them of the verse from Hosea that we mentioned last week.  He said, “If you had learned what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you wouldn’t be so condemning.”  Oh and he also says, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”  I’m sure that didn’t go over very well, either!

Then, he goes into the Synagogue and he meets the man with the withered hand.  Maybe you remember that story.  And once again, the question of the Sabbath was raised.  Was he allowed, by Sabbath law, to heal the man?  Jesus challenges them.  “Which of you, if he has a sheep that falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lift it out?”  They were not happy, being challenged like that in the Synagogue – in their own house!  And at the end of that encounter we’re told that “The Pharisees went out and took counsel against him, how to destroy him!”

On it goes, until, in the last of these encounters we read where they brought to Jesus a man who was blind and dumb – unable to speak.  Most of us can’t imagine what that would be like!  And we also can’t imagine what it would be like to see such a man healed!  But here, even in the face of a great miracle, what do the Pharisees do?  They accuse Jesus of having the power he had because he got his power from the prince of demons!

As I said, these chapters are not so easy to read.  They are full of warnings.  They are full of conflict.  And they show us that Jesus was becoming more and more a controversial figure.  More and more he found himself at odds with the powers that be.

As I said, I wanted you to see that big context.  I wanted you to see that it was in the middle of all that, that we find these words I wanted to focus on today, “Come unto 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 unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (11:28-30)

I love those words!  They’re wonderful words, they’re comforting words!  But it’s good to note that they come in the middle of several chapters of very difficult words.  And I love that, too!  Aren’t they that much more powerful coming in the middle of all those difficult chapters?

Again, these three chapters contain stories and accounts that are not so easy to hear.  And yet, in all of that, those words still ring true.  Those people labored and were heavy laden!  They were burdened with many things in their faith.  Many oppressive rules and regulations were heaped on them.  And Jesus was reacting to that, saying, “Take my yoke upon you, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.”  And he was.  And he still is.

Those words still ring true to us today.  We often find ourselves labored and heavy laden, too.  We see the turmoil and despair all around us, and it weighs heavy on our hearts.  We feel the pressure of this world.  We feel the stress, and the anxiety.  And Jesus comes to us, just as he came to those people, preaching mercy and grace and “rest unto our souls!”  The more I think about it, there’s no question that that’s the key verse in all of these chapters.

I think Jesus still does want us to find refreshing and rest unto our souls.  And isn’t that what we want?  In all the turmoil of the world, in all the bad news we hear about every day, in the news about the wars, and the violence in our streets; in news about the hatred between people of various religions and race, don’t we want “rest unto our souls?”

The problem is – and Jesus saw this – even in the religious world, there are sometimes those who would put burdens on other people.  They would do so for many reasons – reasons of doctrine, and denomination, and dogma.  They would hold to rules and laws, and raise them over the needs of people.  And in the midst of all that, our Savior cries out, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me.  For my burden is easy and my yoke is light.”

I truly believe that religion should never be something that holds people hostage!  Remember that the harshest criticism of Jesus was that those in the religious leadership were like “whitewashed tombs.”  They looked pure on the outside, but inside they were “filled with dead men’s bones!”  I’m sure that didn’t go over very well!  Remember also that his harshest action – of his whole ministry – happened in the Temple, when he turned the tables of the money changers, and destroyed the booths of those who sold sacrifices.

Throughout the Bible, God’s harshest criticism was reserved for those who used their positions of religious authority for personal gain!  There in the temple they were doing just that.  They were taking advantage of the people.  In other words, they were taking spiritual advantage of the people!  They were laying heavy burdens on the people!

Here in these chapters, in these stories, we see the interplay between those who held the spiritual authority, those who made the spiritual rules, those who put the religious burdens on the people – and this message of Jesus, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest unto your souls.”

Again, isn’t that what we want?  Isn’t that what we long for – rest unto our souls?  I don’t believe God wants for us to be burdened by all the turmoil of our world.  I don’t believe he wants for us to be saddled by all the stress that’s all around us.

Yes, he wants us to engage the world.  He wants us to be the salt of the earth.  He wants us to “flavor” the world around us with truth and righteousness.  He wants us to be the light of the world, to shine the light of his love wherever we go.  He wants us to speak out and speak up for those who labor and are heavy laden.  But in all that, and again, no matter what the circumstances, he wants us to have that rest unto our souls!

That won’t happen by default.  That’s something we have to work at.  That’s something we need to practice.  That’s why Jesus says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.”  We need to learn to approach Jesus.  We need to learn to come unto him.  We need to learn to take his yoke upon us, and to throw off the yoke the world tries to put on us.  Those things are not easy.  They take practice.  But when we do, we will have rest unto our souls.

So, think about how these words impact our world two thousand years later.  We have our own brand of being heavy laden.  They had theirs.  But to all of us, then and now, Jesus says, “Come unto me, 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 unto your souls.”

Prayer

Eternal God, we thank you for your love and care for us.  Help us, we ask, to look to Jesus, to seek his gentle, lowly ways, to learn to follow him and bear his burden.  Help us to have the peace you want us to have through him.  For we pray in his name, Amen.