Saturday, August 18, 2012

Rest

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 (Matthew 11:28-30).

How often do you feel weary or burdened?  How many mornings do you pull the covers over your head and wish that you could stay in bed?  How many nights do you toss and turn, unable to sleep because your mind is in turmoil?  How often do you feel overworked and unappreciated? 

We need rest from all kinds of things.  We need rest from all the bad news on TV that makes us worry about things beyond our control.  We need rest from high prices for everyday necessities.  We need rest from people who spread gossip about us.  We need rest from people who push us around.  We need rest from fights at work and fights at home. 

We’re tired of being the butt of jokes.  We’re tired of people using us to get what they want.  We’re tired of being pressured to dress and act like everyone else in order to be accepted.  We’re tired of being ignored by people who are too busy to notice us.

We all have burdens.  Some are addicted to painkillers, methamphetamines, or sleeping pills.  Others are victims of chronic pain or disability.  Some people live in constant fear.  Other people wander through life, wondering if their days on earth serve any purpose.  Many have their plans spoiled by tragedy.  There are a lot of folks who try and try and try, but never seem to get ahead.  And every one of us faces temptation.  We are tempted to duck responsibility, say and do things that we know are wrong, and take shortcuts instead of doing the job right.   Resisting temptation is hard, and it often puts us at odds with our friends.

We all need rest from our burdens.  And the world offers lots of things to try.  If you can afford the treatment, you can visit with a psychologist.  You can go see a motivational speaker or buy his CDs.  There are all sorts of self-help books for you to choose from.  But maybe you don’t want to tackle your burdens head on; maybe you’d rather ignore them instead.  You can distract yourself by going shopping.  You can drown your sorrows in booze.  You can throw yourself into your work or a hobby.  You can spend every night partying with friends. 

Unfortunately, these worldly solutions aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.  Psychologists rely on you being honest with them; they can’t help if you’re unwilling to open up and share the truth.  Motivational speakers can make you feel good, but that glow fades after the presentation ends.  Self-help books put even more of a burden on you—if your life doesn’t get better after reading the book, it’s your fault for not following the author’s advice. 

It’s pointless to ignore your burdens—pretending they aren’t there won‘t make them go away.  Throwing yourself into distractions only compounds the problem.  Time spent shopping just wastes money.  Time spent drinking ruins your health.  Burying yourself in work or a hobby only lets problems grow worse because you are ignoring them. 

Conventional wisdom says that happiness comes from having a successful career, achieving your personal goals, having enough money to buy what you want, being popular, or having control over your life.  But these things are hard to attain and even harder to hang on to.  How do you define a successful career, and what happens when you are forced to retire?  How many people are ever content with their income?  If you achieve your personal goals, then what?  And if you don’t reach your goals, does that mean you’re a failure?  How long can you hang on to your good looks?  What if you were never good looking to start with?  And who really has control over their life?  Can you make everyone do what you want, all the time?   Can you even control yourself, or do you forget things, overestimate your abilities, make critical mistakes?

There are many burdens in life, and the world doesn’t do a very good job of giving us relief.  So our ears perk up when we hear Jesus say, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Christ offers us true rest.  Only the Son of God can ease our burdens in a substantial, lasting way.

Jesus gives us rest from the burden of suffering.  Jesus knows how it feels to suffer; when He was punished for our sins, He was betrayed, humiliated, and laughed at.  People told lies about Him, spit in His face, beat Him bloody, then put Him to death slowly and painfully.  Worst of all, God abandoned His Son during those terrible hours on the cross; Jesus suffered the hell of being cut off from God’s love.  Because of what He went through, Jesus knows suffering better than any of us.  When we suffer, Jesus knows what we’re going through.  He feels our pain.  When we pray for relief, His heart goes out to us.  Sometimes He reaches into our lives and provides a miracle; all of a sudden, things change for the better.  Other times our Lord helps us deal with the burden by giving us wisdom, lending us strength, or giving us patience.  Christ does not always bail us out of suffering, because bad times can be good for us.  Paul writes, suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us (Romans 5:3-5).  When problems weigh us down, we are reminded how much we need God in our lives.  Through suffering, Jesus gives us rest by drawing us closer to God for help.

Jesus gives us rest from the burden of Satan’s attacks.  The devil may be invisible, but the pressure He puts on us every day is unbearably real.  We’re constantly exposed to his lies.  To some he says, “you’re worthless, why don’t you just give up?”  To others he says, “you’re the most important person in the world, so act like it.”  He tells scientists that it’s okay to experiment on embryos, because humans are just an accident of evolution.  He tells college students that there is no such thing as right or wrong, all that matters is reaching your dreams.  He tells atheists that religion is just a crutch for weak-minded fools who can’t think for themselves.  And he tells Christians to go ahead and do whatever they want, because God will forgive them anyway.

Constant lies and distortions of the truth can wear you down.  Thankfully, Jesus gives us rest.  In His Bible, the truth is spelled out for all to see.  In addition, Christ gives us pastors and teachers to make clear what Satan tries to confuse.  Jesus said, If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:31-32). 

Jesus gives us rest from the burden of sin.  Every night when you go to bed, you’ve ended another day of broken promises, stupid mistakes, misplaced anger and selfish laziness.  As the years go by, the heap of pain and sorrow we are responsible for creating grows ever larger.  Carrying that guilt around can suck all the joy out of life.  Thankfully, Jesus loves us.  He wants to spare us from the burden of guilt.  That’s why He suffered and died on the cross; Jesus shed His holy blood in recompense for all the hurt that we’ve caused.  Jesus died to forgive our sins, and because of His mighty act of love we are free of sin’s burden!  When we ask the Lord to forgive us, our sins are gone—just like that!  Psalm 103 says, he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.  Freed from the burden of guilt, we can get out of bed each morning with a positive attitude, rejoicing in the gift of a new day that is bright with possibilities!

Jesus gives us rest from the burden of death.  Nothing is more terrifying or sorrowful than the prospect of dying.  It takes away our loved ones.  It makes us question what our efforts in life amount to.  It makes us afraid of getting old.  It keeps us from visiting friends in hospitals or nursing homes.  And death terrifies us with the ultimate question: what will happen to me after I die?

This is why it is so comforting to know that Jesus rose from the dead to live forever.  He has proven that death is not permanent, only temporary.  He has opened the gates of heaven for us, and has promised a reunion with every loved one who died a believer in Christ.  In heaven our souls will be bathed in the light of God’s love as we enjoy the gift of rest, and on the Last Day we will rise like Jesus did, with perfect bodies that will never sicken, age, or die.  Those who trust in Jesus have no reason to fear death.

Jesus gives us rest through Word and Sacrament.  You don’t have to go through life on your own.  Jesus sends the Spirit of God to live in us and with us, just as the Spirit rested on Jesus while He walked the earth.  The Holy Spirit comes through God’s Word; Paul writes, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17).  Whenever you hear God’s Word or read the Bible, the Holy Spirit works within you, building your faith and blessing you with patience, strength, and kindness.  Through baptism, Christ uses the water and His Word to remove your sin and adopt you into God’s family.  In communion, Jesus gives you Himself through the medium of bread and wine, allowing you to touch and benefit from His body and blood that was sacrificed on the cross to make you His.  When you hear God’s Word and are blessed by His sacraments, the peace of God eases your burdens like nothing else can.

And Jesus gives us rest through service. After a hard day’s work, it is easy to fall asleep and get a good night’s rest.  That’s the way it is when we are working for the Lord; at the end of the day, sleep is deep and peaceful. When you serve the Lord, you don’t have to worry that your life is meaningless or that your days on earth are wasted. Paul told the believers in Corinth, Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).  God has placed us where we are with the skills we have for a purpose.  Paul writes, we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).  Jesus gives us rest through labor that is meaningful and productive.

Jesus also said, my yoke is easy and my burden is light.  If you are doing work that you love, the time flies by.  If you are passionate about what you do, you hardly notice the aches and pains that crop up while you are busy.  So it is with serving Christ.  When we work for Him gladly, the burden is hardly noticeable, because our focus is on the positive, not the negative.  And although we cannot see Him, Jesus Himself is there at our side, sharing the burden so that we are not overwhelmed.  Working with Jesus is not hard; working without Him, now that’s hard!

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Jesus gives you rest from suffering, relief from Satan, release from guilt, and freedom from death.   He gives you rest from fear, depression, and loneliness.  Jesus gives you rest through His suffering and death, His rising from the grave, and the gift of His Spirit sent down from heaven.  He gives you rest through Word and Sacrament, by sprinkling your life with His strength and His miracles, and by filling your days with satisfying work.  Jesus may be gentle and humble in heart, but the rest He offers is backed by the almighty strength and immeasurable love of God Himself.

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