An invitation for weary children to rest

Sermon for the Festival of St. Matthias

Acts 1:15-26  +  Matthew 11:25-30

Our Scripture readings this evening are the readings for the festival of St. Matthias, which occurred two days ago. Matthias is only mentioned once in Holy Scripture, and yet he was a disciple of Jesus from the very beginning, unmentioned and unnamed, standing in the background of Jesus’ earthly ministry. After the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven, but before the Day of Pentecost, His remaining eleven apostles concluded that they were meant to fill the vacancy among the Twelve left by Judas Iscariot when he betrayed the Lord and then hanged himself. In order for such a man to be a true eyewitness to the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus, he had to have accompanied the apostles from the beginning, “from the baptism of John to that day when Jesus was taken up from us” (Acts 1:22). Barsabas and Matthias were the two qualified men who were nominated, and Matthias was the one chosen by lot to be added to the number of the Eleven, after which little is known for certain about his life and ministry.

Now, the choosing of Matthias to be counted among the Twelve Apostles is a little strange. After all, Jesus appeared on and off to His disciples for 40 days after His resurrection. And yet, Jesus never handpicked Matthias to replace Judas. On the other hand, He did handpick the apostle Paul some time later, and we know from the New Testament what a vital role Paul played in the founding of the Christian Church, leading us to conclude that maybe Matthias wasn’t Jesus’ own choice for rounding out the Twelve foundational Apostles. But his selection for the office of the apostolic ministry was still entirely valid. He was still called by God through the Church to be a minister, to preach and teach and administer the Sacraments. In fact, the manner of his calling sets the pattern for the calling of all future ministers in this New Testament era. The Church, both ministers and laymen, gather. They pray to God to reveal, through their choice, whom He is sending into the ministry. And then, whether by lot or by vote, a man is selected.

As I said, we don’t know anything about Matthias except for what is said about him in Acts 1, but since we know that he was with Jesus from the beginning, it’s altogether possible that he was one of the 70 (or 72, as some manuscripts have it) who was sent out by Jesus ahead of Him, to preach and prepare the way for Jesus. Those 70 performed many miracles, including casting out demons, and when they returned from their mission, they told Jesus in amazement, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name. And Jesus replied, I was watching Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Although Jesus wasn’t with them on their mission, He was still watching them. He was with them through His Holy Spirit, through whom He was watching—and participating in—all they did in His name. And He not only saw Satan falling as the disciples cast out the demons. What else did He see? He saw the same things He had seen already in His own ministry. He saw most people, especially the wise, the smart, the religious leaders, rejecting His message. But He also saw simple people, and little children, even, believing it. And so, it was in that context that He spoke the first words you heard tonight from Matthew 11. He prayed and said, I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and learned and have revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.

The wise and well-educated religious leaders thought they knew God so well. They would have fit right in in our modern world, where people pretend to be religious, even Christian, while they intentionally ignore what God actually teaches in His Word about right and wrong, sin and grace, and faith in Christ being the only path to salvation. But because people think they know God so well, they don’t like it when Jesus steps in and tells them something that clashes with their “knowledge” and their version of morality. And because they don’t want to listen to Jesus, God chooses to hide the truth from them, to hide Himself from them, because God only invites people to know Him by knowing Jesus.

Little children, on the other hand, have no problem with the illogical, supernatural things that Jesus says. He says, “I am the Son of God, born of the virgin Mary. No one comes to the Father except through Me,” and a little child doesn’t say, “How can that be?” or “That’s not fair!” A little child says, “You’re amazing, Jesus! Tell us about God, Your Father!” Jesus says, “I will die on the cross to pay for your sins and then rise from the dead.” And a little child doesn’t stop to think about how impossible that is. She just says, “Thank you, Jesus, for dying on the cross for me and rising again.” Jesus says, “The water of baptism will wash your sins away and bring you into my family,” and a little child has no counterargument, no argument at all. He just watches Jesus do what He says He’ll do. And that child who simply takes Jesus at His Word knows God a thousand times better than the smartest theologian, the greatest Bible scholar, or the most devout religions people who question, deny, or ignore, Jesus’ Word, because God hides Himself from the wise and learned, but invites little children to know Him through Jesus. As He says in the next verses, All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.

That’s great news for the little children here today. Jesus says in Matthew 18, I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. So it’s not about how old you are. Even the 80+-yr-olds here today can be little children when it comes to Jesus, little children who sit at His feet and listen to His Word and trust in the things He says. So if, like a little child, you look to the Word of Christ and know Jesus to be the One sent from God the Father to be your Savior, if You trust in Him to tell you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, then join Jesus in praising God for inviting little children like you to know him.

Jesus makes the invitation even more specific in the following verses: “Come to Me,” He says, “all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” This is one of the most beautiful verses in the Bible, and I’m sure many of you knew them by heart before you came to church this evening. “Come to Me,” Jesus called out, but you notice, he didn’t invite everyone. He invited only the weary and burdened people to come to Him and rest with Him. The tired people! But not people who are tired because they stayed out too late last night or worked long hours at their job. He’s inviting people who have weary and burdened souls.

Who are they? They’re people who are exhausted from living each day in rebellion against their Creator. Exhausted from carrying around years’ worth of guilt and regret. Exhausted from trying to be good enough for God to accept them and love them. Exhausted from fighting against a sinful nature that, no matter how hard they try, they cannot get rid of, and from living in a world so full of wickedness. It’s these people, all of them, whom Jesus invites to Himself and says, 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.

Now why would Jesus offer these tired, weary, burdened souls a yoke to put on? Because He has a sense of irony. A yoke is normally put over the neck of a farm animal. It’s a symbol of hard work, working underneath someone else’s rule. Every religion in the world offers you their “yoke,” teaching you how to be a good enough person to be accepted by God, which, in today’s world, often means being so good that you would accept and tolerate things that the Bible calls evil. No, they say, to be good enough for God, you have to be a better person than Jesus was! You have to be more accepting, more “loving,” more tolerant, less “judgmental.” But their “yoke” is worthless. It’s fake, but it’s still a heavy, burdensome thing. And it produces only death.

Jesus’ yoke, on the other hand, offers, not work, but rest, because Jesus took up that yoke of God’s Law upon Himself, and like a work-horse, ploughed the whole field of God’s commandments for us. Jesus’ yoke is the Gospel, and to take His yoke upon you is nothing else than to recognize Him as Your Savior and as Your King, to trust in Him as the One who has saved you from the burden of sin, death and hell, to believe the good news that He has done God’s work in your place, the good news given to weary and burdened souls that you don’t have to do one single thing to earn eternal life. You can rest in Jesus, and in what Jesus did for you.

You can rest, knowing that God has already punished your sin on the cross of Christ. You can rest, because Jesus is gentle and humble in heart and doesn’t want you to go through life wondering whether or not you’ll be in heaven when you die, but resting in the knowledge that heaven is God’s gift to you through faith in Jesus. You can rest, because, as you struggle every day against the devil, and the world, and your sinful flesh, God knows your struggle, and God knows how to defend you, how to strengthen you, and how to rescue you in due time. These are the things that make His yoke easy and His burden light.

So don’t turn down this invitation today, the invitation to know the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom He Has sent, to know Him and to enjoy the rest He invites you to have with Him. Be a little child. Hear the Savior’s invitation, and accept it with joy! Amen.