Soul Rest

Text:  Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Theme:  "Soul Rest"

4th Sunday after Pentecost

July 6, 2014

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

+In the Name of Jesus+

“To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:

¹⁷ “‘We played the pipe for you,
    and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
    and you did not mourn.’

¹⁸ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ ¹⁹ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”

²⁵ At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. ²⁶ Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

²⁷ “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ 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. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

So the text from Matthew's Gospel -- spliced up a bit for some reason --  begins with a comparison:  Jesus asks, "To what can I compare this generation?"  It ends with an invitation to everyone:  Jesus says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Just between you and me, I'll take the invitation! 

I'm fairly certain we have a pretty good grip on making comparisons -- usually between ourselves and others.  We may not state them, but we think them.  I'd venture to say that not a day goes by when we don't make those comparisons.  We're good at making comparisons.

What we're not so good at is resting -- really resting, fully resting.

Oh, I'm not saying that our body of wisdom hasn't improved some.  It most certainly has.  Jesus said, "Wisdom is proved right by her deeds."  These days the deeds of our wisdom have offered new ways to monitor our rest.  You can wear a wrist band; you can place your cell phone under your bed sheets.   Both gadgets will monitor your sleep patterns and give you percentages.  If you use these for any length of time, the data will show you patterns and offer up suggestions for improvement.  Kudos to you if you find a way to get more deep sleep.  (It's called R.E.M.) 

We can rest the body; wisdom says 6-8 hours a night is what's called for.  We can rest the mind.  Eastern religions and philosophies have put forth techniques that can assist us with this.  Nowadays, these practices are thought to be the disciplines of meditation.  A more scientific term is "biofeedback."  Certain forms of biofeedback give you a monitor for your forefinger.  It's a basically a thermometer.  When your finger warms up, that means that more blood has moved out from your core to your extremities.  That means you're relaxed  -- and, if relaxed, not tense or anxious.  Your mind is at rest. 

A fully-rested body.  Been there!  Done that!  It doesn't happen all the time. (I am given to occasional bouts of insomnia; I'm actually going through a period of that right now.)  A fully-rested mind.  Again, been there!  Done that! 

But a fully-rested spirit or soul?  I can't quite say "Been there!  Done that!" in this case.  Human techniques and technologies -- as wonderful as they are -- don't ever quite get to the soul.  They approach it but never quite get to it.  That soul of yours is holy ground.  We don't just let anyone or anything in.  The soul point is the vulnerable point, and we work mighty hard to build a hedge around that. 

How's your reading going this summer?  Mine is just slugging along.  True to form, I set for myself reasonable goals, and then proceed to not reach them.  The plan was to have Rick Atkinson's World War II Trilogy completed before June. They are three big, thick books.   By June 1, I was not halfway through volume two -- which, by the way, told the story of allied involvement in Italy and the bloody march to recapture Rome from Hitler's reich. Atkinson, who I had the pleasure of meeting at the UNT Mayborn conference last year, included an incredible picture.  An American GI was baptized by a chaplain in an ancient Italian pool by a pagan shrine. 

What prompted that soldier to be baptized?  What was it that got to his soul?  Was it the steel and fire of war whizzing around and falling out of the sky?  Was it the massive death he saw?  Often, it came down to what percentage of infantrymen in any given battalion or regiment were left alive after any given day of hostilities.  Did he see the beautiful flowers in the meadow that sprouted up still around the lifeless bodies of his unit members? 

Weary and burdened he surely must have been. 

Nevertheless, "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."

A "yoke" is what they placed across the broad shoulders of those beasts of burden. With a yoke, the animals -- so given to running off and doing their own thing -- could be guided. 

When we attempt to guide our own souls -- which is, basically, doing God's job in the place of God -- then we are yokeless. The soul runs off and does its own thing. Some call that freedom.  Others call it bondage.  I call it confusion.  Eventually, a yoke will emerge in this thing we call life, and it's not easy; it's not light.  It's hard.  It wears you down and wears you out -- your soul, that is. 

It's not just any yoke.  "Take my yoke upon you," invites Jesus.  "Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart."  What will you find? Rest for your souls.  And what of the yoke?  It is easy and it is light.

Without that yoke, without that soul-rest, even a fabulous weekend like this -- America's birthday complete with fireworks, barbeque, and the gatherings of family and friends -- is just a bit of a catnap for the soul.

Like the body and the mind, the soul knows what it means to be weary and burdened.  But a soul that takes up the invitation of Jesus is a rested soul, an educated soul, a gentle soul, a humble soul,  a yoked soul, an easy soul, a light soul!  And it is a nourished soul, for in just minutes we hear another invitation of Jesus:  "Take, eat.  This is my body given for you.  Take, drink.  This is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. 

The burden of sin is a heavy yoke to bear -- for the soul of a person, the soul of a people, the soul of a nation, the soul of a world.  But in the Gospel and Sacrament, Jesus takes our yoke -- weary and burdensome as it is.  In exchange, He gives us His -- which is easy and light. 

He didn't say you might find rest for your soul.  He said, "You will."

Amen.