I
can’t image the frustration Jesus must have been feeling at this point in his
ministry; surrounded by a people who “just don’t get it”; he, their Messiah. The Lord God come to be with his people to
deliver and restore them and they just didn’t get it.
John
the Baptist knew who Jesus was. When
John baptized Jesus with his own eyes he saw the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus
in the form of a dove and with his own ears heard the voice of God the Father
saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” But since imprisoned, John sent some of his
own disciples to tell Jesus if you really are the one, then get on with it. He didn’t quite understand what the Lord was
up to.
And
then, there were all those people who flocked to John out in the desert. They just didn’t get it that he was as the
one who came to prepare the way for the Messiah. But, in his efforts to prepare the way John
was just a little too prophetic, un peu
trop prophetique. He called to
account everyone in Israel—the royalty, the people, the soldiers, the priests,
and all the religious authorities. But,
as far as we know he said nothing about the Romans. John came as a true prophet living an austere
lifestyle in the desert and though people flocked to him they didn’t listen and
in the end accused him of demon possession.
They just didn’t get it. They
didn’t get what the Lord God was up to in their midst.
Jesus,
the Son of God, Immanuel (God with us), the Anointed One they were expecting had
come. With John a great crowd saw the
dove and heard the voice. Jesus then
began wandering about Galilee proclaiming the Gospel that the Kingdom of God was
at hand. He healed people, cast out
demons, and forgave sins. Unlike John
the Baptist Jesus stayed among the people in their towns eating and drinking
with them in their homes. But, they
still just didn’t get who he was or that the Kingdom of God was in their midst.
They didn’t have that change of thinking
that compelled them to confess Jesus as Lord and live like it.
The people of God in Jesus day simply could
not recognize that God was in their midst and that the very thing all of Israel
was hoping for—the Kingdom of God being established—was happening before them
at the hand of Jesus. They just didn’t
get it. Missed all the cues.
But,
wait a minute we shouldn’t be so quick to judge. It may be that we, each of us, suffer from
the same malady. Who here can say, “I know what God is doing in my life.” Or,
“I know what God is dong in this church.” The flutes are playing, but seriously
is there anymore than just a few us doing any dancing while everybody else
seemingly goes on with life as usual.
Well,
enough of the guilt trip. Just as he was
long ago, Jesus is here to help us with our difficulty in being able to
recognize what God is up to here. He gives
us an invitation: “Come to me, all you weary and heavy burdened
faithful, church-goers, 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.”
Instead
of judging us and berating us, Jesus offers us an invitation, an invitation to
come to him and find rest. What is this
rest? Well, a couple of weeks ago I did
the Wednesday worship service up at Country Lane in Chatsworth. I noticed a new face. Afterwards I went up and introduced myself to
her and it was obvious that even with me speaking loudly she was having great
difficulty hearing me and I doubt she heard anything in the service. There was a lady sitting with her who was
either her daughter or a close friend.
“I said you must be new here.”
Speaking for her, the lady next to her told me the new resident’s name
was Kay and that she was 94 years old. I
said, “Hi Kay. I’m Randy.” Kay looked up
at me and said very loudly, “I’ve been a Christian 86 years. Every morning God speaks to me. I don’t hear all that well, but he let’s me
know he’s with me and I serve him every day.”
I said, “Yep, God is faithful.
It’s new every morning.” She
knows what rest is.
I
was speaking to a man a couple of days ago who had had a heart attack a couple
of months ago and they wound up having to do open heart surgery. As he reflected on it all, he remarked how
everything that happened the day he had his heart attack was God watching out
for him. His wife came in a just the
right time to call Emergency Services and getting to the hospital and getting
the right care at the right time. He
felt everything was in God’s hands and it’s given him a new sense that God
really is looking out for him and involved in his life. But, that wasn’t all. They did the surgery a couple of days after
the heart attack and it was serious, scary.
Yet, he felt such a calm and a peace washing over him. He could feel the prayers of everybody. He knows what rest is.
The
rest Jesus invites us to and gives to us is knowing the steadfast love and
faithfulness of God the Father just as Jesus himself knows it. We are bound to him, unioned to him in the
Holy Spirit. The yoke he places around
our necks is the Holy Spirit who teaches us who Jesus is as the Son of
God. The Holy Spirit makes us feel the
rest. He teaches us what Jesus said, “No
one knows the Son except the Father and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
Yet,
the Holy Spirit is a yoke. Yokes go
around the necks of animals so that they can pull a load. Jesus gives rest to those who devote
themselves to pulling the load of daily prayer and Scripture reading. He gives his rest to those who will pull according
to his way; according to mercy, to generosity, and to compassion. His rest abides with those who will
whole-heartedly be his disciples. A
disciple is someone amidst a group of someone’s who commit together to study
Jesus by trying to live according to the steadfast love and faithfulness of the
Father that we have come to experience in Jesus the Son because he has yoked us
to himself by the presence of the Holy Spirit upon us and in us. To these, to us, Jesus gives rest. Amen.
