Resting from Heavy Burdens

 

I realize I do a lot of critiquing of our lectionary diviners, but I do have to say, God must have had a hand in the decision to include the conclusion of Matthew 11 for the Sunday that would fall the closest to the Fourth of July celebration. 

And with this year being the 250th, it might have felt a little bit off to talk about "heavy burdens." But this semiquincentinnel has, regretfully, been like nothing I would have ever anticipated. I have vague memories of the things that happened in my hometown for the bicentennial in 1976. And the thing I remember most was that despite any misgivings in the larger culture, there was some sense of resilience and purpose and excitement about marking this moment.

None of that seemed to be anywhere this year. Most of my friends didn't even really want to acknowledge the holiday...not even with a cook out. Even the fireworks, which typically are obnoxiously loud and are going off at all hours of the day and night for weeks and days before and after the holiday were not all that this year. 

Groceries are too expensive. We're in a war nobody wanted that is driving up the cost of gasoline at the pump. And people are getting killed and disappeared off the streets of American cities in this horrible and insane crackdown on immigrants, regardless of their documented status (which, by the way, their undocumented standing doesn't make killing them warranted!) We're being lied to daily about the health and whereabouts of Republican U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell. Our president is unhinged and wanting people prosecuted for touching the algae-riddled waters of the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial in DC. Nothing, just nothing, feels good about the USA right now.

So maybe Matthew 11 was the perfect passage for THIS Independence Day. See what you think.

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Text: Matthew 11:16-19; 25-30

 

 

“Come to me all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

This particular Gospel passage from Matthew always shows up on the Fourth of July weekend every three years.

I don’t know if the lectionary diviners did that on purpose…or if they even had the holiday in mind as they pulled together the readings we’ve heard this morning.

But on this weekend…where we’ve marked the 250^th birthday of the United States of America…this reading from the eleventh chapter of Matthew is timely and relevant.

Because it offers words of comfort to a people living in an uncomfortable time.

And if we’re being honest… that’s where we are right now…as we mark this milestone in our nation’s life story.

The community that first was reading and hearing these words from Matthew’s Gospel were a people who had been through war and the second destruction of their Temple in Jerusalem.

That loss had left them beleaguered and feeling unmoored. The whole point of Matthew’s Gospel was to give this remnant of the Jewish Christians of that time a sense that they still had a place…that God had not forgotten them…even as they saw the world around them seeming to be on fire.

This morning’s reading follows upon Jesus’s calling and sending out of the disciples.

He’s given them their marching orders…cautioning them that they won’t always be received well…but they must go anyway.

If the people will listen to them…welcome them…great. Even a cup of cold water…counts as welcome enough.

But Jesus doesn’t simply talk the talk.

He’s walking the walk…he’s on the move.

And he’s traveled to more places…continuing to preach and teach.

And…just as he had warned the disciples…he was encountering those who didn’t want to hear what he had to say.

These are people who had rejected John the Baptist because he was too demanding.

It probably didn’t help that John had called them a “brood of vipers”…basically accusing them of being people who would kill their own mother if it meant keeping their power and status.

But they don’t like Jesus either because…oh my goodness…he’s too welcoming…too inclusive…breaking bread with the despised and disinherited.

 

Now…the lectionary skips over some verses.

And that’s too bad because Jesus had some specific words for three ancient cities:…Chorizin…Bethsaida and Capernaum.

Jesus blasts the people of these three places for their unwillingness to listen and their inhospitable behavior.

These were cities of great wealth…and that excessive wealth had led to greed…and that greed had infected their hearts.

They didn’t care that Jesus was there curing their sick…and preaching God’s Love.

In fact they resented it…because it brought them up short.

Just like places such as Sodom…they had become hard-hearted and unwelcoming.

Too full of themselves.

Too proud of their own wisdom.

So self-satisfied and wanting to hoard what they had.

Too caught up in having power over others and they had no need or love for anyone different…the foreigners.

Sadly…this is a critique that could be laid on our society today.

There are those in our country who are happy to ignore the suffering and the hardships of others.

They can’t be bothered with what’s happening to the so-called “little people.”

They’ve got their affairs in order and they don’t care what happens to the next generation.

From courtrooms to state Capitols…all the way up to the highest levels of government…we’ve been witnessing the stripping away of the dignity of those seen as “other.”

We’re even now questioning who belongs…to whom of those born here do we guarantee the inalienable rights of life…liberty…and pursuit of happiness?

The powerful have been flexing their muscles against the immigrants…the working class…the elderly…and the minorities…many who are the descendants of the very people who have helped build this country for 250 years.

What has become of a country…with a landmark such as the Statue of Liberty…emblazoned with words,

“Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free….”?

Have we become the new Chorizin…Bethsaida…and Capernaum…having accumulated so much wealth that we have grown so proud and cold too?

In this land of E Pluribus Unum…we seem to be less “unum” and more siloed into our own tribes…viewing each other with suspicion if not outright hostility.

This separation is contributing to the loneliness in society.

And the loneliness leads to us feeling wearier and more worn out than ever.

Jesus not only has some words for those who are pulling us apart… but he also has something to say to those who are struggling.

 “I will give you rest.”

He’s not telling us to ignore the exhaustion we might be feeling.

He’s not asking us to make excuses or apologies for the load we’re bearing.

He’s not telling us to avoid it… nor is he giving us a magic pill to make it all better.

Instead… he names it.

He acknowledges what it is: heavy burdens.

He knows that the attitude of those who think they have it all…the ones who say they have no need to live into the mission of loving the stranger…visiting the friendless… and caring for the vulnerable…these are the ones who have made our lives harder.

He sees our struggles and says, “Let me give you rest.”

“Come to me” with your worries.

“Come to me” with your pressures.

“Lay these things on me…let me help carry this load.”

“I will meet you in this place of your inner turmoil and tiredness…and I will show you kindness…rest and renewal.”

This invitation to rest is Jesus’s way of reaching out to us and reminding us that none of us has to nor should we try to do this life journey alone.

He’s prompting us to lean into our faith…and not stiffen our backs hoping to grit things out during trying times.

Name this weight…these burdens…and say, help.

And we know this is the way.

These are the things that we all know and have done before.

Think of how we respond in times of crisis.

When the recent hurricanes tore up sections of Lowndes County…restaurants responded with preparing and serving food…and neighbors checked on neighbors.

When the medical students from Georgia universities come to this area to offer clinics for the migrant farm workers… our Episcopal churches help to feed these up and coming healthcare professionals and we send them off with the leftovers to share with their clients.

I think about the way that sports help to pull people together…perfect strangers…setting aside differences as we cheer on our team and celebrate accomplishments.

I’m a Boston Celtics fan…and yet I couldn’t help but smile and rejoice with New Yorkers when their Knicks won the N-B-A Championship for the first time in 53 years.

When we remember that we are all one…brought together into a human family in Christ…and all children of a loving…life-affirming…and liberating God…that’s when the heavy burdens we bear become lighter.

Together…we can learn from each other…lean on each other…and grow together…rejoice when things go well…and give aid in times when we need help.

That’s how Love works wonders in the world.

I want to leave us with these words by James Weldon Johnson from the hymn “Lift every voice and sing.” It’s the third verse of the hymn and captures the spirit of this Gospel message:

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears

Thou who has brought us thus far on the way

Thou who hast by Thy might led us into the light

Keep us forever in the path, we pray.

Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,

Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world we forget Thee,

Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand

True to our God, true to our native land.

In the name of Our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.