Matt. 11:16-19, 25-30   “Rest for the Stressed”

     We live in a tense and fast paced world filled with hurry.  A newspaper once carried the story of a basset hound by the name of Tattoo.  Tattoo didn’t intend to go for an evening run, but when his owner shut the dog’s leash in the car door and took off for a drive – with Tattoo still outside the vehicle, the dog had no choice.  A motorcycle officer noticed a passing vehicle with something dragging behind it.  He observed that the poor basset hound was picking them up and putting them down as fast as he could.  Well, he chased the car to a stop, and Tattoo was rescued.  But not before the dog had reached a top speed of 25 miles per hour, falling down and rolling over several times.

     Too many of us are living our lives like Tattoo, picking them up and putting them down as fast as we can, rolling around and feeling dragged through life.  And we’re in need of rest.

     Maybe life is coming at you from all different directions.  Maybe work is so hectic and busy and you’re putting in so many hours, you just don’t know how long you can keep it up.  Maybe you feel as though your spiritual well is all dried up.  Maybe financial problems are plaguing you and making you feel like you’re in a corner and you just can’t get out.  In this morning’s Gospel lesson Jesus invites “all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens” to come to him for “rest” and peace.

     But what is the kind of rest we need?  Is it a good night’s sleep?  Or is it complete relief from the worries and the pain and the frustration that afflict us?  Is it a miraculous healing of body and soul?  Is it the assurance that nothing can happen to us that our Lord cannot see us through?  Is it a combination of all of these things?

      Let me suggest to you that the kind of rest we need is to order our life in the presence of Jesus.  When we unload our stress before him, either through prayer, or contemplation, or simply taking of a few moments to unwind, we can find rest.

     Now that’s not to say our problems will be solved and frustration will never happen again.  The body may not be healed and the anxiety may still linger.  But in the presence of Jesus, we are strengthened and comforted.

     Whatever it is that’s weighing you down this morning, you can give it over to God.  He doesn’t care what they are.  He simply says “Come to me.”  Bring those burdens and lay them at the feet of Jesus.

     In 1 Peter 5:7 Peter tells us to “Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.”  Here Peter is encouraging us not just to give our worries over to God one by one as they came up, but to make a commitment to cast, or “deposit,” our whole future on God and not to worry about what may come.  David encouraged the same type of commitment in Psalm 55:22 when he said, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.”

     So many times we come to Jesus and ask him to carry us through, but we never give him the burden.  I read the story of a man riding down the road on a horse and cart when he saw a stranger struggling under a heavy load.  He stopped and offered him a ride that was gladly accepted.  But as they rode along together, he noticed the stranger still kept carrying the huge sack on his back.  So he said, “Why don’t you just lay it down?”  The stranger replied, “Oh no, it’s good of you to carry me.  But I couldn’t expect you to carry my burden too!"

     We smile at that, but that’s what we do if we don’t allow God to take care of us.  So many times we want God to care for us, but we don’t want to give him the burden we’re carrying.

     When Jesus spoke to those in his day he was speaking to those laboring to do the works of the law.  He spoke to those straining by their own efforts to measure up to God’s demands, working like mad to achieve a measure of rightness in God’s eyes.  He spoke to those weighed down with anxiety, those feeling disappointment and discouragement.  Christ came and offered rest from that kind of laboring.

     To all of us whose souls are weary and overburdened with the notion that we must be “self-made,” Christ offers us the same invitation.  He takes the burden of our guilt and shame and sin with him to the cross.  He takes our inadequacies upon himself to show that there are no limits to the Father’s love.  Jesus offers to share our burdens by offering us a yoke.

     Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you.”  “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  The yoke Jesus offers makes no claim to eliminate the burdens we have in life by making them magically disappear.  There’s no promise that we’ll never have any challenges.  But rather the yoke Jesus offers makes our burdens manageable.  For you see, the purpose of a yoke is to make it easier to carry a heavy load.

     But if we accept Christ’s yoke we need to understand that we’re connected to him in such a way that the burden is carried together.  Yokes are made for two, not one.  To be yoked to Christ means we can no longer simply go our own way anymore but we must follow Christ and his guidance and direction for our life.  To be yoked to Christ means that we are joined to his work.

     As we yoke ourselves in partnership with Christ, may we learn from him true servanthood, and true gentleness and humbleness of heart.  May we find purpose and direction for our lives as we are remade into Christ’s likeness, and experience real rest and peace for our souls.

                                                AMEN