7^th Sunday after Pentecost – July 31, 2011

Matthew 11:28-30 - ²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ 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. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Dear Saints of God,

There is no doubt that this section of Holy Scripture is one that is well-loved – and rightfully so. It is committed to memory and recited in confirmation; it is written in the front of churches and pictured on stained-glass windows. One could argue that it is one of the more beautiful word-pictures in all of Scripture.

Yet, when a person takes a long, hard look at these words, one realizes that it says more than meets the eye. Certainly it speaks of the comforting rest that we find in Jesus, but it also reminds us that we always need to remember that we are weary and burdened sinners. Yes, like all of Scripture, these words too direct us once again to the Law and Gospel. It directs us to the fact that our sin is a burden from which we can never free ourselves. With that in mind, we examine these words under the theme: Heed Jesus’ Invitation to Come – for you are weary and burdened and only Jesus can give rest.

Now, when I say that you are weary and burdened, please understand me correctly. I am not talking about the financial problems you might be facing or the problems you’re having in finding a job. Nor am I referring to the family problems of trying to get the kids to shape up, or get on the same team as your spouse, or get along with parents. I’m not even talking about the doctor visits, the health issues, or the pain in your leg, back, or neck. No!

As serious as those are, they are nothing compared to your real burden; to what truly makes you weary! You see, your greatest burden, my greatest burden, mankind’s greatest burden is not the physical hardships and ailments we suffer, our greatest burden is the load of our sin and guilt. Sin is the heaviest burden you have to bear. And anyone who has experienced a guilty conscience – and who of us hasn’t – knows just how tired and weary the body becomes. Making matters worse is that it is a self-imposed burden. It’s one you can’t shake off on your own. It’s a burden too heavy for us to lift. It’s a burden that must be answered with an eternity of torment, agony, regret and despair in hell.

If you think I’m painting too grim a picture; if you think I’m making sin out to be a bigger deal than it really is; if you don’t think it is that big a deal, at least not compared to other problems you are facing - think again! And, you see, that’s the problem. That’s precisely why it is such a big deal! When we downplay sin, or think we can get rid of it on our own, we only add to our sin and make matters worse. If we think we can rid ourselves of sin and cleanse ourselves of guilt, we are engaged in an exercise in futility. We will never reach the goal we strive for. Instead, our works will become a torture chamber of doubt and despair because we will never know if we have done enough. Just like quicksand, the more we try to do something to lift the burden, the deeper we will sink.

I pray that by the grace of God, you have come here this morning recognizing the wearied and burdened sinner you are. Wearied by the fact that you still fail to live up to the perfect standards God lays down for you in his holy Word. Perhaps feeling like a battle fatigued soldier who feels more like a prisoner of war than part of the invincible church of Christ.

But I also ask, are there some of you who have come today lukewarm with satisfaction, not bothered by sin. Thinking that all this talk about being weary and burdened sinners is a little over the top, satisfied with how well you have lived your life and thinking that God, then, should be satisfied too. If that is true, listen to words Paul was inspired to write, words we read in our second lesson, “What I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do…I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”

If you don’t immediately identify with Paul and say, “That’s exactly how I feel!” you better wake up because you are sleeping on duty. Make no mistake about it, your sinful nature is alive and well within you. Each of us are weary and burdened sinners who must acknowledge that as we are, even with our best works, we cannot stand before God.

So the weary and burdened are those who hunger and thirst for forgiveness. We are to acknowledge our own sinfulness and realize that it is a burden far too heavy for us to bear. It is a load that will drag us to hell if we must carry it ourselves. It is a load which we cannot cast off, no matter what we try. So then, where may we who are weary and heavy laden find relief? Jesus answers, “Come to me…and I will give you rest.”

A young man was lifting weights in the garage by himself when, near the end of his workout as his muscles were growing weary, the barbell he was bench pressing slipped from his grasp and crashed hard onto his chest before rolling onto his neck. He struggled to roll the bar off, but he couldn’t. It could have been a fatal accident had his father not heard his cry and come running to pull the weight off his son.

In a much greater way, Jesus pulled the weight of sin off of you and me. On Maundy Thursday evening in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus carried the burden of our guilt. It wearied him as it depressed him. It made him cry out that he was sorrowful unto death. He prayed to God the Father to lift Good Friday’s suffering and death from him if that were possible and still save sinners. But it wasn’t possible. He had to bear our guilt and sin.

So he took the guilt and the shame, the unkind words you’ve said and the impure thoughts you’ve thought, he took the irresponsible and inconsiderate things you’ve done, he took each transgression of the Law and he picked them up. He took the crushing weight that would send you to hell and put it on his back. Then he carried them to the cross in your place. And enduring hell, being crushed for your iniquities, he brought you peace.

Now, to us who are burdened with sin and guilt Jesus says, “Come to me…I myself will give you rest for your souls. I have borne your guilt for you. I personally guarantee peace with God.” And he can back up his claim. After being led as the Lamb of God to the slaughter, he rose from the dead verifying that he is the Lord God who has earned the right to give peace and rest to the weary and burdened. He removes your sin and restores your fellowship with God.

Do you see what that means! Now, we don’t have to try and do it ourselves anymore. Did you hear that? We don’t have to try and earn our forgiveness! Not only can’t we, but we don’t have to do something to get right with God. We are right with God – through Jesus. The righteousness we need; the forgiveness we long for; Jesus gives it as a gift! That’s what he says, “I will GIVE you rest.” He did it all. Did you feel that? Did you feel the weight just lift off your shoulders? Did you feel relief just sweep over you? We are freed from the burden of sin. We are freed from the works of the law. We have peace of conscience and the knowledge that we are God’s children.

Now we can understand what Jesus means when he says, “Take my yoke upon you…my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” At first it sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it, like a contradiction. A yoke is that bar across the shoulders of the oxen that were attached to the plow that they would pull with much labor. One wonders, how can that be easy? But Jesus’ is saying, “Be yoked to me. Let me do the work as you walk by my side.” That is an easy yoke. Once we have taken on that yoke, God’s commandments are no longer a heavy burden that weighs us down and destroys us. Instead, they are expressions of God’s will in which we delight. Jesus’ yoke is easy and light because he does all the work. We love because he first loved us. We are committed to him because he was first committed to us. He paid for all our sins and set us free. He fought our battle for us. He equips us with his mighty power and provides our escape from temptation so we can stand.

So let him lift the weariness you feel as you wrestle with your sinful nature. Yes, we are wretched people who keep on sinning in spite of his grace, but we’re rescued from these bodies of death. Jesus has shown us his glory in a much better way than Moses ever saw, for you have seen clearly how he’s lifted your burden of sin. And you know that he promises, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exodus 33:14).

Come to me, Jesus says. Dear friends, that is an invitation we do not want to pass up. Jesus is our relief, our rescue, our rest at every turn. Our rest does not rest with us at all. It rests on Jesus, because he removed the burden of sin and weariness of guilt. Amen.