Psalm 145
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
Grace and Peace to you from God our Creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, Amen
“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, 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.”
Christ the Shepherd of us all, the advocate for all the lost sheep… is telling us all to rest. After summoning the disciples, telling them that he came to bring a sword and not peace, to break up families, rend father from son, mother from daughter, etc etc etc… Jesus the Christ, who has been busy telling us what we are called to do in this world… tells us in our Gospel for today… to just go ahead and cool down. Put on the brakes. Stop and smell the roses.
Rest.
It’s hard to remember to stop sometimes. Those of you who are retired, those of you who need to actually retire, those who are taking the summer off, taking the day off, taking the morning off… taking this sermon off… Rest.
It’s certainly a huge difference from what Jesus had spent the last few weeks talking about. Culminating all of this discussion of what he is calling us to do… to finally say - Rest.
Life can be like that sometimes, when you just rush and rush and rush and then… stop. I’ve heard people tell me that when they work too hard for too long, something goes wrong, and they are forced to stop working. For a few clergy-folk, and it certainly wasn’t only one who’ve confessed this to me - but for those who work too hard for too long, as clergy are wont to do… a major attack on their body is the thing that forces them to take things slow. Usually it involves the heart or blood flow. Working hard and long for extended periods of time can wear a person down, and it’s not just clergy that do this, but plenty of hard-working people do. Our society demands it of us. Parenting, especially for new parents, can be quite taxing on people. School events, sports, then throw on church… self-care… When’s the *rest* supposed to happen again?
Self-care is a terrible habit to get into. Especially when juggling so many balls at once. It’s just one more ball to throw in the mix. And when you finally have the opportunity to just focus on yourself, you feel guilty for doing so. Vacation and retirement are great examples of self-care, as long as you can somehow manage to not think about work. Even now, I’m technically ‘off’ this weekend, and here I am up here. Don’t worry, I feel honored and love being here. But I’m technically ‘working’. And I had a wedding on Friday.
Just to catch you up for those of you who know me, and even those of you who don’t - It’s been a year since I was preaching under these trees, next to these lakes. I’m Jon Rundquist, the former intern of Zion, up the road. I’m currently serving my second internship at Living Waters Lutheran in Sauk Rapids and Lutheran Church of Christ the Redeemer in south Minneapolis. I’m on this second internship due to being postponed in my Approval for ordination. The second internship was part of the recommendations of the postponement. Since I left Amor last August, my family and I have been living in Saint Cloud, where I finished my Master of Divinity, and Tiffany started and finished her Master of Social Work. Raising two kids, working at Target occasionally, Tiffany working her unpaid internship, and on top of all that, I came out as transgender and non-binary in the fall. It’s been a very busy year, and I’m still going.
For some of us, rest doesn’t come by easy. For Jesus, rest doesn’t come by easily for him either. From the moment he hits the ground running, he doesn’t really get a moment to rest. He gets one opportunity to rest in a boat while the disciples are fishing… and then a storm comes and he needs to save them from that anyway. He's got so much in his plate, and yet here he is telling us all… to rest.
But it's hard these days. A new crisis erupts over night, even when we're resting, somebody else is using their device to destroy someone else's life and reputation, or complain about random things or insist that they're more popular than others or incite violence or not do the thing they're supposed to do when everyone else… is resting.
Another act of injustice. Another attack, another life taken, another reason to stand up and say- enough is enough. Every day we get up, there's something to work on, something to fight, somebody to correct, something to cry out for… and still Jesus says… rest.
For his yoke is easy, and his burden is light.
A colleague of mine asked on Facebook what they could do to help ease the burden of caring for patients in their chaplaincy work, to help center themselves. When I feel overwhelmed, anxious, out of my element…. I seek the one element that binds us all together. I pray. I seek the One who offers us rest and I pray. Because I know and have faith in God, that God's got this.
God, the Creator of all things, of these rocks and trees, lakes and rivers, you and me…
God's got this, because God's had us in God's loving arms since before the lights were in the sky and long after they go out. As the psalmist writes in today's psalm, God endures throughout all generations, Jesus said he is the beginning and the end.
God calls us to care for God's creation, to advocate for the marginalized, to love one another, to upend the status quo, to lead by Christ's example, to keep the faith, extend the faith… and rest.
And when you have rested and begin to be restless, start again. Keep up the good fight. The sun will shine tomorrow.
For his yoke is easy, and his burden is light.
I cannot end this sermon, without addressing the elephant in the room… or trees…
Jesus the Christ offers us with this text, a promise of the ultimate rest, the ultimate laying down of burdens at his feet. There is no life without death. But because of the One who conquered death, there is no death without life. Through the unwinnable and unshakable never-resting power of God's Grace, freely bestowed to all through Christ's life, death, and resurrection… in the Cross, we find our eternal rest.
Through all the joys and sorrows of life, the fighting of injustices, the daily grind, the working and over-working, the chaos of modern realities… remember to rest. We have confidence and boldness in Christ, knowing that through it all, God's got this.
Amen
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