Come to Me!
Eighth Sunday After Pentecost (July 6, 2008)
Rev. Steven D. Spencer – Pastor Messiah Lutheran Church, Salem, OR
Matthew 11:25–30
25At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and 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. 28Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Grace, peace and mercy from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen!
I was recently received an email with Sven and Ole joke. They were standing on the side of the highway holding up a sign saying, “Turn back before it’s too late!” As dey stood der some young drivers came speeding by and yelled at dem, “Go home ya Jesus freaks.” Ole looked at Sven and said, “Maybe we ought to change the sign to say, ‘bridge out ahead?”
Our text today begins with a sign. Often these words are overlooked, the sign is misunderstood. The sign I’m referring to is, “At that time Jesus declared,” At that time! When you hear the words “at that time” it points to a transition that is taking place. It’s a sign and a bridge. It marks a spot in time, discerning the past from the current. It’s as if you’re driving down the road, everything is alright but now all that changes. The bridge is out ahead. But in case of our text it’s the opposite. It appears that everything went wrong before our text and now things are finally getting right. It would be like Sven and Ole holding up a sign saying the bridge is open and a smooth highway ahead. But what happened? What is Jesus is transitioning from? Let’s take look.
Just verses before our text in Matthew 11:20-24 Jesus says: Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. "Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."
"At that time" Jesus is speaking severe judgment on these three cities. They refused to repent, to acknowledge their guilt and to believe in the Christ. So, they will have to bear their own guilt one which Jesus so wanted to remove. Jesus had favored the people in Galilee highly, in particular the citizens of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. His home was in Capernaum. There He had performed most of His miracles which proved that He was the Son of God and Savior of the world. There He had preached the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins. But, they wouldn’t listen. They wouldn’t repent. Although Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom were understood as the most wicked cities and therefore were destroyed, on Judgment Day the guilt of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum will be greater than that of those three wicked cities.
By the way, Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum were later utterly destroyed. Only the rubble of Capernaum remains today though once a flourishing city on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.
“At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children” The people of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum had been made wise to the knowledge of Jesus by signs, wonders and the Word. In the Greek this is made quite clear (sunetw/n) our text is can be translated as “possessing understanding.” They had the knowledge of their sins and Jesus ability to forgive them. But they wouldn’t confess them; they wouldn’t turn away from them. They insisted on continuing in what they were doing.
St. Paul points so clearly this mindset in 1 Corinthians chapter 1: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength” (1 Corinthians 1:18-25).
Let us make no mistake about it. This message is for us today as well! The "Wise and understanding" are the unrepentant that reject the invitation of the Gospel. The “little children" are the repentant whose only hope is the righteousness of Christ which is theirs by faith. Lenski points out, in his commentary on Matthew, that no one is "a little child" by nature. Only the Law of God can make a man repent, cause him to acknowledge that he is a lost and condemned creature. Such a person, whether educated or uneducated, is a fit subject for the Gospel.
The "wise and understanding" don’t listen to Law or the Gospel, they are like the people mentioned in verses 20-24. "The wise" talk back to God saying, "I’m Not Guilty, leave me alone. Quit talking about sin, I don’t like hearing it! I know what’s best for me." But the “little child" is guilty, knows it, and does not talk back to God but, like David, says: "If Thou O Lord kept a record of sins, who could stand?"(Psalm 130:3).
1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." That describes the man who is the ”little child." But the "wise and understanding" are described in 1 John 1:8: "If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the Truth is not in us." These are the deluded people who know better than God, or so they think. In John 1:11-13 the two groups are described. “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision nor of the human will, but born of God” (John 1:11-13).
Our text says: “You have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and 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.” Jesus reasserts by saying "yes." Again He addresses Him as Father. Jesus knows the “good pleasure" of the Father which is identical to that of Jesus.
Jesus is by no means rejoicing in the fact that some will be lost. He is rejoicing in the fact that as God was well-pleased with His Son, this good pleasure is for all people without distinction. Furthermore, verse 25 excludes every possibility of synergism. For it is Christ who reveals the Father. Man doesn’t find God. Man doesn’t make a decision to become a child of God. It is only by revelation through Jesus Christ. John 1:18 says “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.” Or Romans 10:17: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” It is through divine revelation of Jesus Christ one becomes a child of God. When that revelation is rejected, God Himself conceals the revelation.
God truly and seriously wants all human beings to be saved. Even the damned in hell were forgiven, justified, reconciled to God through Christ. But, they rejected it. That's the meaning of verses 20-24.
Jesus desired a far better thing for them. But they rejected the Good News. Verses 28-30: “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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Jesus is speaking about forgiveness of sins and everlasting life. It becomes even plainer at the end of this reading. Jesus doesn’t promise us immunity from family, social, academic, economic and political problems. He doesn’t promise us a Utopia. But He does promise rest FOR YOUR SOUL, freedom from the guilt and power of sin, freedom from the threat of death, freedom from the power of the devil.
Notice that Jesus refers to Himself 5 times in verses 29 & 30. That should give us a hint. The answer is not in us, but in Him (T).
Take My yoke upon you. What is His yoke? What does He teach us? The answer is: The kind of person He is. He is meek, that is, forgiving. He is lowly in heart. He puts himself under the authority of love to save sinners. He is gentle and lowly in heart, in His innermost being." When you've learned Who Jesus is and what kind of person He is you will discover rest for your soul, a spiritual rest, a rest of complete reconciliation with God.
Why a "yoke"? Because Christians are in the world but not of the world. The Greeks considered the Gospel foolishness, the Jews an offence. The Judaizers said that faith in the Gospel was insufficient. The false teachers at Colossae claimed a special type of spirituality. So do charismatic and the emergent church movements of today. Many people today consider the Gospel God's weakness, not the power of God unto salvation.
His yoke is easy and His burden is light. If you abandon His yoke, His burden, you must bear your own guilt, you have no rest for your soul, you have no assurance that He will guide and lead you, you have no assurance of eternal salvation, and you are not on the way to heaven. Jesus is not saying that life is easy. Just read the account of the saints in Hebrews 11. Many of them suffered much. But despite all of that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Afflictions, the cross and suffering simply drive the Christian closer to Jesus.
Our text tells us that our salvation has been attained for us by God’s own Son, Jesus Christ. Verses 28-30 are an open invitation to all of us to find temporal and eternal rest in the incarnate Christ through His Word. Not by our works but by the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. For, without words who would ever have known about it?
Jesus holds up a sign for you saying: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” In Jesus name, amen and amen!
The peace of the God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.