Ij
Page 1 of 9
Proper 9, Year A, RCL
July 6, 2008
Church of the Holy Spirit, Ashburn, VA
The Rev. Timothy J. Howe
Working Title: How do you spell relief? C-H-R-I-S-T
Scriptures: Romans 7:14-25, Matthew 11: 16-30
This morning we encounter some of the most comforting words ever
spoken in the world. From the lips of Jesus we have these wonderful words,
"Come unto me you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest."
Do you ever struggle to do the right thing? You see the right thing to
do, you know the right thing to do, you know you need to do the right thing,
but for some reason or another, you find either that you can't or won't do the
right thing.
This is a struggle most people encounter at some point in life. For
some, it is a struggle that keeps going on and on and on. They know the
rules, they know what's expected, they know they'll be happier if they do the
right thing, but they don't.
You see this pattern more clearly in the lives of those who struggle with
some sort of addiction or another. There, the battle to do the right thing can
take on monstrous and epic proportions as they fight their own personal
demons to get free of the addiction. If you've ever struggled to quit smoking
or drinking or doing drugs, you know what I'm talking about.
Often, before finding final victory over the addiction or problem or
tendency in the soul, we will struggle to win, only to find ourselves failing
time and again. We'll spend time steeling our nerves for the fight to quit,
Page 2 of 9
only to find we're out back once again puffing away.
For sensitive souls, this can be soul-crushing.
This is a perfect illustration of what St. Paul describes in Romans 7.
He struggles and struggles and struggles to do the right thing, the things God
wants us to do, only to find that time and again he is defeated by himself.
Two weeks ago, when I was last here, we looked at Romans 6 and saw
there that we all participate in the old Adam sin nature. Paul argues in
Romans 1 through 6 that we all participate in this fallen human nature and
that this is the prime problem in human history and experience.
Here in Romans 7, Paul makes it completely personal. He shows that
everyone struggles with sin in life, including himself. It is not an academic
exercise, but where the rubber meets the road for all of us.
Through the example of his own struggles, Paul shows that we are all
in the same boat together. No one can fulfill the demands of God's
righteousness through his or her own efforts. God's law shows us that we
need help, we need a savior to set us free from the weight and damage of sin.
We are incapable of pleasing God through our own efforts.
This is the great problem facing each member of the human race. This
is the bad news of the Gospel- namely, that we need help to get right and
keep right with God.
Indeed, Paul argues that in himself, there is nothing good. Sin has
spoiled everything and even when he wants to do good, sin is right there to
make a mess of things.
Page 3 of 9
At the end, he laments, Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Who will rescue me from the sin and evil which dwells so awfully close in
the soul? I can't do it myself, if I would truly be free, I need outside help.
I need Jesus.
This is the struggle that some of the greatest saints in Christian History
have found.
I think of St. Augustine, before his conversion, a pagan's pagan. From
Hippo in North Africa. If you look at a modern map of north Africa, find
Libya, then move east across Tunisia and Hippo was in the little corner where
the continent makes a bulge down to the right. He was a brilliant man, but he
had a problem. Sexual immorality. He struggled with it. His mother,
Monica, prayed for him every day of his life that he would come to know
Christ. He moved to Rome to study and came under the preaching of the
famous St. Anselm. But he hesitated and hesitated and hesitated because he
continued to struggle and struggle with his problem. He was afraid he'd
never be able to conquer his sin. Then one day, he was out in the backyard
when he heard a child's voice playing some game. The child kept calling out
"Take up and read! Take up and read!" So Augustine picked up a New
Testament he had there near him and read a passage from Romans and
suddenly he realized it wasn't up to him but Christ who conquers sin. Did he
struggle later? Yes, but he knew the rest of Christ. Later, he returned to
Hippo where he was elected Bishop over his objections. His writings are still
read in the church today.
Page 4 of 9
1100 years later, a young man was crossing field one afternoon when a
thunderstorm came up. Suddenly a bolt of lightening came from the sky and
shattered a tree near the young man, knocking him to the ground. He cried
out in fear, "St. Anne, help me! I will become a monk." And he did. His
name was Martin Luther. He not only became a monk, but decided to
become the best monk possible. He took seriously the need to cleanse his
soul from sin, so he undertook rigorous self-examinations, trying to rid his
soul of its sin. One thing they did was confession. Well, when he went to
confession, it wasn't just a 10 or 15 minute thing. No, he nearly drove his
confessor nuts, a man named Staupitz. He would come with long lists of the
most minute sins to confess. Staupitz finally urged Luther to actually go out
and do some sin so he'd have something real to confess!
Luther was so aware of his own sinfulness, like Paul here in Romans,
that when he was called on to celebrate his first Eucharist as a priest, he froze
up. Someone else had to come in and finish it for him. He stood there in
front of the altar and froze when he thought, How can I, a sinner, offer
anything like acceptable worship to the great and Holy God?
Finally, one day, he was reading and studying the book of Romans, he
realized that Christ had won the victory for him and he didn't have to! His
life changed tremendously, so much so that he started a reformation. We are
here today partly because of Luther.
He eventually wrote a commentary on Romans and in the preface he
detailed how he found victory over sin through Christ.
Page 5 of 9
Fast forward a couple hundred years to a miserable young man in
England. He struggled to find perfection in his heart, but stumbled and fell
over his own sinfulness. One evening, he was in a group listening to the
reading of Luther's commentary on romans. The reader was reading the
preface to the commentary when this young man felt his heart strangely
warmed and he realized that he did trust in Christ and Christ alone to save
him from his sin. The man's name was John Wesley. Like Paul, Augustine,
and Luther before him, he found that Christ alone brings victory over sin.
Wesley went on to change England through his preaching, so much so, he is
often credited with keeping England from falling into its own French
Revolution.
These were just a few of the great saints of the church who found that
only in Christ is there victory over sin and that through that victory, there is
rest and peace.
So, let's turn to Jesus and see what He tells us this morning.
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.
This is exactly what Paul found at the end of Romans 7.
Why would Jesus issue such a wonderful invitation? To understand,
we need to back up a little bit.
At the start of this passage, Jesus compares His generation to spoiled
Page 6 of 9
children sitting in the public places of town, trying to get their friends to play
certain games. His analogy becomes clear in the following verses where He
relates some of the criticisms leveled against John the Baptist and Himself.
Neither one of them had fulfilled the expectations of the cultural,
religious, and political leadership of the time. Instead, they were acting in
accord with God's plans and timetable, not the timetable of the world.
The leadership of their day believed that righteousness was achieved
only through tremendous struggle to keep, not only the tenets of God's Law,
but all the traditions that had arisen over the centuries around God's law. It
was these traditions that Jesus kept pushing against as He interacted with the
Pharisees and the Sadducees, the two dominant groups of the day.
To follow this analogy out, Jesus is arguing that the culture has it
exactly backwards. The culture was demanding that God should behave in a
certain way, according to the culture's expectations and priorities, not God's.
When God's actions through John and Jesus did not satisfy the cultural
expectations, then obviously, John and Jesus must not have heard what God
wanted to have done and must be in error.
This is the age old error mankind has made repeatedly in its
relationship with God. Man starts with himself and insists that God fulfil
man's plans and understanding according to man's understanding of things.
When God doesn't do so, then man turns away from God.
This is the error that many in the leadership of the Episcopal church
have fallen into. They assume that the culture and modern, scientific
Page 7 of 9
understanding is superior to the revealed will of God and therefore, if God
and His followers won't toe the line, they must be forced to submit or be
thrown out. It's not a new error and it won't be the last time it's made.
Jesus then pronounces woes on three of the cities where He has
ministered and healed and preached. He compares them to other cities and
tells them that the Gentiles and notorious sinners would have repented and
flocked to Him if they had seen the things He was doing in their midst. But
because these cities showed at best an indifference to Christ, they would not
be in good stead with God at the Judgment Day.
Scary words.
But the point is to try and show people that our notions of the way
things ought to be is quite often wrong or off. God works the way God works
when God wants to work His way with little or no regard to the public's
opinion or views. Our unaided, natural understanding is of no use trying to
figure out the ways of God. The truly wise will recognize this and seek after
God regardless of what the popular culture is doing or urging at the time.
The thing to remember is that human culture will never set you free
from the things that weigh you down. It can't because it has been created by
other sinful human beings.
Further, the struggle to break free from sin's addictions and destruction
can't be done in our own strength alone. We do need help.
That's why Jesus came.
And the good news is that, in Him, through Him, and by Him, salvation
Page 8 of 9
from our sins is possible and available, freedom from the power of sin is
available, rest and refreshment for our souls is provided, and ultimately, life
eternal is given through Him.
St. Paul found that simply keeping all the rules wasn't enough to gain
freedom from sin.
Following human culture won't do it either.
The only relief from sin and its power is Christ Himself.
This is why Paul continued writing after the end of Romans 7.
Romans 8 says therefore there is now no condemnation for those who
are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life
set me free from the law of sin and death..
Christ conquered sin and death. This is why He issues this wonderful
invitation, Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give
you rest.
This is exactly what Paul found and what is offered still today through
the name and power of Jesus Christ.
The things that weigh us down are not the final word in our lives. They
may seem awful and insurmountable at times, but the final word, the final
invitation is this one from Jesus.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly
in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty good to me!
Even better, we know from other Scriptures that the Lord sends forth
Page 9 of 9
His Holy Spirit into our hearts to make this a living reality in our lives. We
are not left to fumble around trying to make this work. Instead, the Spirit is
sent into our hearts to empower this life within us.
We will still stumble and fall from time to time. But, like Paul found,
we can rest assured that ultimately the victory over sin has been won for us in
Christ and that through the Holy Spirit we can begin to experience this
victory over sin, too.
One final point to remember is that the one who spoke these marvelous
promises also keeps His promises. If Christ has promised rest to His people,
then He will. Amen.
Let us pray:
Come Holy Spirit, come among us now. Be present with us Lord. You know
each one's burdens and struggles. You know those areas where sin always
seems to win. Come and touch those things in our lives. Come and heal the
hurts. Come and calm our fears and worries. Come, Lord Jesus and give us
your rest and peace.
Thank you, Lord, for your victory and for giving us that same victory.
Be with us in the coming days as we struggle through life. Empower us to
live for you through your Holy Spirit. Amen.