I Will Give You Rest
Matthew 11: 25-30
Pentecost 6 (Proper 9)
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen. The sermon text for the sixth Sunday after Pentecost is the Gospel reading Matthew 11. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”. These are the words of Jesus. They are wonderful to hear because we have been laboring. We all work hard in the various vocations that the Lord has given us. We have been working hard at our jobs, putting in long hours and still struggling to get everything done. We have been working at being a loving spouse, providing for our families, being the best mom or dad we can. Yet with all our hard work we are filled with guilt and regret. We get discouraged when we think about all the times, we come up short. “I should have spent more time at home with the kids.” Why do little things cause me to lose my temper?” “I am always getting behind on the things that I need to get done.” That is why the words of Jesus are so wonderful. “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest”. They are wonderful words because we all need rest. But we need to ask an important question. What kind of rest does Jesus give us?
Is it the rest we get with a day off from work to swim, eat out, or sit on the porch? Is it the sort of rest that comes from a summer vacation? Is it time at the beach? Is it reading a book? Maybe it is the rest that we get from sleeping in. All the things that I have mentioned are a certain kind of rest. We all enjoy days off, vacation, hobbies, resting, and getting extra sleep. They are all things that can refresh us. It is not the kind of rest that we will complain about. But is this the sort of rest of which Jesus is speaking?
The answer, of course, is no. He isn’t speaking of a rest that is simply taking a break from work. So what sort of rest is Jesus promising to give? To answer this question, let’s take a closer look at the sort of person to whom Jesus promises to give this rest. “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden.” When we hear these words, we easily understand the labor part. We understand the work. The nature of our lives on earth involves work. We work the ground, we work at our jobs, we work at school, we work to take care of our families, we work to take care of the house, we work in our service to the church. Most recently we have been working to remove branches and clear debris because of the recent storm. Work and more work, that is what we do. Everyone works, even those who are retired. A retired person can easily fill up their day with things that need to get done.
Everyone labors, as Jesus calls it. But Jesus promises to give rest to those who work and are heavy laden. To understand what Jesus is saying, we must understand what it means to be heavy laden. He is not referring to those who are physically or emotionally exhausted because they have been working too hard. Days off, vacation, and getting more sleep can help with that. When Jesus speaks about being heavy laden, He is referring to those whose work has caused them to be burdened with a guilty conscience.
That is what it means to be heavy laden. It is to know the work that the Law of God demands you to do and at the same time to know you have been unable to do it. We desire to be a godly parent and yet we sin against our children. We want to give to our family good things and yet we also give to them our flaws. Children want to obey and honor their parents and yet they disobey them and say terrible things to them. We want to be a good spouse and yet we don’t always treat our spouse very well. We want to be there for our friends and yet all too often we neglect them.
The Law of God is good and wise and is nothing less than the will of God. It is what God demands of you as a spouse, a parent, as a child and a neighbor. Yet, the Law of God also reveals your sins. That is why you are heavy laden. It is why you are burdened in your conscience. You know your sin.
This is why Jesus promises to give you rest. You know that your work falls short of the will of God, and as a result your conscience is burdened. Jesus promises to give rest to those who know their work is full of sin and whose consciences are plagued by what they have done and by what they have left undone. The Lord promises to give rest to those who know that they justly deserve His temporal and eternal punishment. Jesus promises to give rest to those whose consciences are burdened by their sin.
To see an example of this we turn to Paul in our epistle reading for today. Recall what he said. “For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the Law that it is good”. Paul knew the Law and He knew that the Law is good. Like you, Paul knew that, try as he might, he could not keep the Law. Paul goes on. “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” Like you, Paul wants to do the will of God, but he cannot do it. Until finally, as a man whose conscience is burdened with his sin, he has no choice but to say this. “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
To such a person, Jesus says this. “Come to 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 for your souls.” What Jesus is saying is this. The Law is my burden to pay. I will live a perfect life and fulfill the Law for you. I will take upon myself your sin and face the wrath of God in your place. I will then give you, my righteousness. Take the work I am doing to fulfill my Father’s will and let it be credited to you so that you might rest and not live in fear. For that is my yoke. Take my yoke, the work I am doing on your behalf and have it as your own. My yoke, given to you, is easy because it is given to you as a gift.
Our response is the same as Paul. “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Jesus gives true rest. He gives peace for the conscience that is burdened by sin. The Lord Jesus gives you a good conscience because He has made you right with God. The Lord accomplished it all through His death and resurrection. You are forgiven by God. Your sins have been wiped away by the blood of Jesus. What Jesus desires most of all is it to give you the gifts of life and salvation that He freely earned for you, so that you might have rest in Him, so that you would have peace in Him.
And so you come here to the house of God to receive the gifts of Christ. You confess your sins and receive absolution. The Lord gives you rest because He united Himself to you in Holy Baptism and gives you His life as your own. When you are burdened by sins you continue to battle, Jesus gives you rest by giving you His body and blood, showing you that God is gracious.
That, you see, is the rest that Jesus promises to give. He promises to give peace to you who know the Law of God and who know you haven’t kept it. He kept the Law in your place, and the rewards He earned by keeping it He wants you to have. So even while you work, you always rest in Him as a forgiven child of God. Remember what Jesus said. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Amen.