Psalm 145: 8-14; Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30
My grandfather had a lot of old sayings he’d offer to us at what could be both the most opportune and inopportune time. Some of these I’ll share with you this morning. Others I can’t say from a pulpit or in polite company. He’d often say “You can’t cool all outdoors,” when it was hot and the door was open. He’d quote the country song, “Here’s a quarter, call someone who cares.” Occasionally he would offer that we should wish in one hand and do a bodily function in the other to see which gets full first. And never will I forget him singing along to “At the Cross” with these words, “It was there by chance I tore my Sunday pants, and now I have to wear them everyday.” But I often remember when things would go wrong, he’d say one of two things. It was either, “If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all,” or “Can’t win for losing.”
It seems like Jesus is saying much the same thing in our Gospel lesson for today. He’s telling the disciples and the followers of John the Baptist that they are disagreeable to everything. John didn’t eat or drink at fancy tables, and he was called demon-possessed. Jesus dined with anyone who invited, and he was accused of being a glutton, drunkard, and in cahoots with the tax collectors and sinners. It seems like…can’t win for losing. One of the hardest places to be is in the presence of someone or a group where nothing you do is right, and everything you say and do is negatively critiqued.
Jesus often found himself in this place: speak the truth, and they hate him; dine with sinners whose lives change dramatically, and he’s hated again; keep to himself, and they hunt him down. For Jesus, the toxicity of a fickle crowd of naysayers is constant and overwhelming. He offers them a pointed prayer calling them proud and self-righteous. Then he reminds them to be childlike, inquisitive, and eager to learn and grow.
Perhaps as we celebrate Independence Day weekend this year and recognize the 250th anniversary of our country, life feels to us much like it did to Jesus. Everywhere we turn and everything we do and say is wrong. It doesn’t matter what crowd you are in, it’s wrong. We hear a lot about polarization and pastoring “purple churches.” And now in a country founded partly on religious freedom, we find ourselves, and especially preachers, constrained because anything we say is filtered through a political lens and not a Biblical lens.
There are certain things in the Bible and in faith that are simply an unchanged truth which many feel become political. These things cannot be changed even when it feels harsh to us. I, as the pastor, cannot change what is uncomfortable as much as I would like to. What Jesus said about marriage and divorce cannot be changed. That women were property, and slavery was commonplace in ancient Judea cannot be changed. And for those who like to summon up Deuteronomy and Leviticus from time to time, it cannot be changed that they both say to welcome the foreigner as if they were your own. There are many places where the Bible records hard lessons and truths which to a modern audience sound political, but that polarized political lens is our problem, not the Bible’s problem.
We have politicized too much in life in an unhealthy and disruptive way. I saw a quote this week from Bishop C. Andrew Doyle from the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. It says, “Our citizenship is baptismal before it is national.” Never forget in a world that is turbulent, polarized, and angry who you belong to first and foremost. We can debate, discuss, and shout until we are blue in the face, but fundamental change in the heart and soul of another person does not happen until they meet God and let God work in their life. Our job is not to win every political and social battle here on earth, because the ultimate victory over all that is wrong here is already spoken for.
Our mission, should you choose to accept it, is to tell the story of Jesus over and over again until politics, Christian Nationalism, anger, division, and all these toxic things are shut down in the light and life of a faith based on sacrifice, love, and redeeming grace. An old hymn, “Redeemed How I Love to Proclaim It,” reminds us, “I think of my blessed Redeemer. I speak of him all the day long. I sing, for I cannot be silent. His love is the theme of my song.”
And why is Christ at the heart and theme of our words, our songs, and our lives? We see it in those last verses of the Gospel. “Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke up on you…and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’” In a world where we are tired of being inundated by bad news all day, it is refreshing and restoring to hear that Jesus offers us rest.
The other day my friend used a new phrase I’ve never heard before: “exhausterwhelmulated.” It means over-exhausted, overwhelmed, and over-stimulated all at once. Many of us have been feeling that for years as the anger, division, and disgruntled feelings of our entire nation and world continue to rage on. Whatever little bit of good news we get is swallowed up when we are inundated with all the bad news. We can’t win for losing.
But this sense of can’t win for losing is not an eternal problem. We may not be able to fix the exhaustion, the obnoxious political ads all the time, and the vitriol that we see in our society and even homes, or the ugliness and hatred in some of humanity. But we can remember that Jesus gives us rest for our souls. Here’s the thing—we may still struggle with all of the bad things and problems in life. They may become overwhelming. We may still have days of being “exhausterwhelmulated.” We never, though, have to worry about the outcome. Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection remind us that God is over all, in all, and will work out all that happens. That is why the burden is easy, and that is why we can find rest for our souls.
We may deal with problems on a fairly regular basis, but we don’t have to fear about the ultimate outcome, for God is in control. The same God who was with Israel through their good and bad times, their good and bad leaders is still with us today as we endeavor to serve and follow the One who created us and loves us so very much.
But most importantly, if we ever want to change the society we live in, we must introduce everyone to this loving, redeeming, and generous Christ, who gave of himself and still pours his goodness into us this very day. Everything we do, everything we say, every word we write, every moment, every breath should testify to the goodness and love of God within us. Remember that Jesus doesn’t give us the opening to have enemies. We are to bless those who curse us and turn the other cheek to those who wish us harm.
In the Kingdom of God with Jesus as our guide, every person is an opportunity to demonstrate the true and unending love of God. If you live every moment in that love, in that peace, and in that presence of Jesus, you will be able to overcome the misery, exhaustion, and politicization of life. For Jesus said told us that if we carry a heavy burden, if we have a heavy load to carry, he will give us rest. In Jesus, we will find rest for our souls.
In life, we may often feel like we can’t win for losing, or like all the world around us has gone a bit crazy or mean. You may rest assured, though, that Jesus is still at work. May we give thanks for 250 years of blessings for our nation though we are still imperfect in many ways. May we also remember that God’s love still has power beyond anything we know and understand to change hearts and minds, and if we fully trust and live in this faith in Jesus, we will find rest for our souls.
Worship Service Video https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1323706576609787/