As You Are, Come

​6th Sunday after Pentecost – A (Proper 9)                                                     LSB #’s 699, 684, 832
Text – Matthew 11:28
 
Come to me, all who labor & are heavy laden, & I will give you rest.
 
AS YOU ARE, COME!
 
 
“Now John,  when he heard in prison the works of the Christ,  sent through his disciples, & he said to Him, ‘Are you the Coming One,   or shall we expect another?’”  (Matthew 11:2-3)   John the Baptist is waiting in prison  for what would eventually be his beheading.  Trapped in the confines of death row  can make doubt very real. 
Is Jesus of Nazareth truly  the coming Messiah?   The doubts of that opening prison scene set the stage  for the invitation Jesus extends to everyone  as the Gospel lesson draws to its close.   Why would Matthew use the Baptist in prison  as he wonders if Jesus is the One? 
Wouldn’t it be better  to highlight the paralyzed man whom Jesus healed  so he could walk again,  or the man born blind  who now could see?   To do so,  would be a classic mistake that people make  when trying to understand history.   We take our present circumstances & project them into the past  in order to interpret what people were thinking. 
It’s not easy for us to try & live in the past.  There are so many things we don’t know,  & so many other things  we just assume.  Since we believe in Jesus as Lord & Savior,  we miss how many people in His day had no clue  that Jesus  was man  & God.   We don’t grasp how many people were confused by this Nazarian carpenter  turned Rabbi. 
At Matthew 11, the opposition to Jesus was growing by leaps & bounds.  John the Baptist was in prison & Jesus performs  no miracle to rescue him.    Of the miracles Jesus does,   the Pharisees accuse Him of forming an alliance with Satan in order to accomplish them.  Jesus’ own family  does not know who He truly is,  & He is confronted with unbelief in His own  hometown. 
His disciples are increasingly nervous  that this kingdom Jesus is bringing may not be one
of earthly power & glory.   Healing the sick & helping the poor is well & good,  but how does that get rid of the hated Roman occupiers?  What of all the opposition from the religious leaders?  In response to the concerns of His disciples, Jesus teaches that the wheat & the weeds  will grow together  until Judgment Day. 
For example, Christ’s ministry has gone out to Israel.  Most of Israel has rejected it.   To His followers, everything seemed to be going so poorly for establishing the reign of God.   And it’s not only that people aren’t responding  positively.  Many stand openly against  the work of God’s reign, because it threatens their own rule  no matter how broken their “ruling” might be. 
Does that seem at all relevant  to our culture today?   It should,  because it’s rampant across our nation.  Arrogance & pride are being put on full public display.  If you don’t see it everywhere you look,  you are sticking your head in the sand.   People are laboring  & heavy laden trying to live their lives  under the burden of law. 
Human beings live under the assumption that working harder or smarter,  or today higher, can make things better.  Some of our burdens have been imposed upon us from the fallen world,  but many burdens  are  of our own doing.  We have chosen  to carry things God never intended for us to carry,  & it can be difficult to lay them down. 
In fact,  we often do not have the capacity to lay down our burdens.  The Father, the Son & the Holy Spirit  know that.  The Son came to earth in a manger at Bethlehem  in order to bring His invitation to each one of us personally: “Come to me,  all who labor & are heavy laden,  & I will give you rest.”  (Matthew 11:28 ESV)    God knows  you need it! 
In Matthew 11, Jesus calls us to quit pretending that we are strong!  Quit trying to work so hard.  As you are,  come  & surrender!  All of life, every single aspect of what you experience each day,  revolves around Jesus, by His will.   And He says, “As you are,   however you are,  come,  come to me  & I will give you rest.”   The rest Jesus offers  is life  itself.   If you do not have the rest our Creator offers, then you are not  alive.    If you do not have the rest Jesus offers  then you are dead,  even if you don’t realize it.  Without His rest,  there is no life,  no living;  all the work you do  is accomplishing nothing,   nothing,   nothing! 
You might say, “But how can I rest,  when I have so much to do?”   Yet,  if you do not have the rest that Jesus offers,  then all the work you get done  is for nothing.   It is pointless!  Whatever you do  without God’s rest  is simply an illusion  & a mirage.  God the Father  is the fountain & source of all goodness  & He delivers it to us  through His Son Jesus. 
Unfortunately,  in a sermon on coming to Jesus – calling us to lay down our burdens – laying down our burdens can become a new law itself.   Trying to lay down your burdens  can become  a new burden.  Rather, Jesus wants us to know that receiving Him is the main thing,  not the setting aside of what causes us to be heavy laden.  
We cannot use Jesus to defeat our problems,  but as we surrender to Jesus,  as He embraces us,  we discover (almost incidentally)  that we have been relieved of our burdens.  Sometimes those struggles remain,  yet we bear them under the cross in the power of our Lord & Savior’s embrace.  His grace is sufficient even  & especially   in our weakness. 
As Zechariah highlighted in the OT lesson,  humility is a trait of God’s kingdom, seen in the description of His Son, “…your king is coming to you; …humble  & mounted on a donkey…”  (9:9 ESV)    If we receive the rest that Christ offers to us,  not only do we come to life, but we will be humble  to accept His embrace,  His mercy,  & His forgiveness. 
Many in our culture today are trying to save the world  without Jesus.   They’re rejecting His embrace & the life that only He can give.  They want nothing to do with God’s mercy & forgiveness.  Their arrogance & pride is blinding them to the utter folly of attempting to help the downtrodden by giving them earthly things that are only temporary.  Arrogance & pride blind them, just like the Pharisees & Scribes were blinded,  to the rest  that all of us need from the effects of sin.  It is Yahweh alone who brings people to life  through His message that everyone is invited  to come to Him for rest.    Sadly,  many reject Him & the gift He offers. 
So, the questions arise today as they did among Jesus followers 2000 years ago: Can this be the work of God?  Is this  how things are supposed to play out?  Should our churches not look more powerful?  As questions like those set the stage,  we are ready & eager to hear the words of our Lord.  In the face of rejection & ridicule, Jesus prays:
“…I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven & earth,  that You have hidden these things from the wise & understanding  & revealed them to little children.”  (Matthew 11:25 ESV)   The wise & understanding are those who refuse to acknowledge their utter & complete need for God’s saving righteousness.  They refuse to rejoice that Jesus has come to save them  & everyone else too. 
The little children are those who know  their utter dependence upon their Lord & Creator to save them.  They bring nothing to God but empty hands & broken hearts,  as did John the Baptist from his prison cell.  We are incapable of saving ourselves,  just as helpless infants rely completely on their parents for food, warmth & safety.   We need the embrace of Jesus. 
We need the rest & the life that He offers to us, when Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor & are heavy laden, & I will give you rest.”  (Matthew 11:28 ESV)  Amen. 
 
 
“Come unto Me, ye weary,  & I will give you rest.”  O blessed voice of Jesus,  which comes to heart oppressed!   It tells of benediction,  of pardon, grace, & peace,  of joy that hath no ending,  of love that cannot cease.     “And whosoever cometh,  I will not cast him out.”   O patient love of Jesus,  which drives away our doubt,  which, though we be unworthy  of love so great & free,  invites us very sinners to come, dear Lord, to Thee!  Amen.  LSB 684:1, 4.