Wisdom is Obvious

 

Text: Matthew 11:16-30

Focus: Humble attitudes

Function: to help people see the value in humble living.

¹⁶“But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another,

¹⁷‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
    we wailed, and you did not mourn.’

¹⁸“For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; ¹⁹the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

²⁰Then he began to reproach the cities in which most of his deeds of power had been done because they did not repent. ²¹“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. ²²But I tell you, on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. ²³And you, Capernaum,
will you be exalted to heaven?
    No, you will be brought down to Hades.

“For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. ²⁴But I tell you that on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for you.”

²⁵At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; ²⁶yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. ²⁷All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

²⁸“Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Good morning Painter Creek. I want to thank you for sending me to Annual Conference last week in Cincinnati, Ohio.

It was an inspiring and moving conference. And one of the main reasons I attend conference is to attend the Pastoral Training event that occurs the two days before conference.

This year we did a seminar based on the book “Healing Racial Trauma” by Sheila Wise Rowe. She told us the story of trauma from racism as she grew up in Boston when the busing started and the girl on the bus seat beside her got a shard of glass wedged in her eye when the bus window shattered from the brick thrown by the crowd shouting the N word at her and her friend.

She became a Christian and through her faith and relationship with Christ, has been able to find significant healing.

She taught us as pastors and caregivers how we can recognize signs of abuse and trauma in both ourselves, so that we can become better healers, and in those whom God has given to us to be agents of healing.

That takes us to the last three verses of our text for this morning. Jesus calls out to us as well these words: “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

The context of these words are in a passage that was calling people to repentance. He lists several cities that he had recently been to, performing miracles in, where the people rejected him and his message of loving others without judgment and he issues a warning to those who refused to listen to his voice. In this passage, he compares himself to the OT prophets who were also killed because their message of love and justice just doesn’t sit well with those who want to maintain power and control over others.

He tells them they made up the excuse to not listen to John the Baptist, who came right before Jesus appeared, the first prophet after a 400 year period where there were no prophetic messages of guidance from God.

And he points out their duplicity by saying because John abstained from fancy food and alcohol, they said he was demon possessed. And because Jesus drank wine and celebrated with them at their feasts, he was merely a drunkard.

See, Jesus was telling them to love their enemies, even the Romans who were terribly oppressing them. Jesus was telling them to give up their wealth in exchange for generosity toward the poor. They liked the miracles, but they didn’t want to change and give up their selfish ways.

And although he was healing them and making life better for many, his message convicted them of their greed and selfishness and many places rejected him on an wholesale basis.

And he warns them again to repent and start loving others as much as they love themselves.

So, in the passage, we have a contrast between the followers of Christ and those who refuse to follow him.

And he told us something that our guest presenter at the Pastor’s conference told us: Jesus is near to the broken hearted and hurting. Or maybe, because of their pain and suffering, they are more empathetic and caring toward others. Maybe, because of Jesus, healing touch, they are willing to give that love to others. At least that is what the scriptures say: We love because he first loved us.

So, to shorten Jesus’s sermon so far. Jesus is in a public place, so I assume he is shouting so that everyone can hear him. And he first shouts out these woes to people who reject the ideas that he is presenting to them and the different way of living that Christianity became. It was know as “The Way” in the book of Acts.

It was the different way of living that Jesus espoused.

So, in the sermon so far, he is shouting out the woes and then in contrast he calls out to those whom are generally more disposed to hear him and respond in a positive way.

And that crowd, it appears, that are willing to receive his message are those who are broken and tired.

And I’m not just making this up. In the verses right after the woes, and right before the invitation to those who will respond is another description of those who do respond.

He cries out in a public prayer thanking God for people who are not proud and pretentious, but those who are tender hearted and willing to listen to the Spirit of God inside of them to love their neighbor as themselves.

The fact that God was among them was obvious by the miracles that Jesus was performing. And when we look at the miracles, they are all about the healing of those who are suffering and in distress.

Except, of course, the first miracle which was turning water into wine at a wedding party.

He did these miracles, I believe, to show them that God’s love is transforming.

And while doing them, because he had the people’s attention, he taught them just exactly what it means and looks like to love your neighbor as yourself.

And these places rejected him. Not the miracles, but because of his teaching about justice, love and compassion. Because he was a friend to those the religious folks despised in their pride and search for power.

Jesus also knows that those who have been through suffering and have been healed by the presence of the Christ, are now healers themselves.

It should have been obvious that Jesus was the Christ, and his message was true by the compassion that God showed them through Jesus.

So, come for God’s love and stay to be transformed by God’s love.