Rest for the Weary

Collect for the Third Sunday in Lent

Almighty God, you know that I have no power in myself to help myself: Keep me both outwardly in my body and inwardly in my soul, that I may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ the Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Rest for the Weary (Matthew 11:2-12:50)

Jesus isn't pulling any punches in these chapters filled with teaching, healing, and run-ins with the authorities. He compares his opponents to whiny “children sitting in the marketplaces” (11:16); he pronounces woes upon the cities that witnessed his “deeds of power” and yet “did not repent” (11:20); he flouts the laws prohibiting work on the sabbath (12:1-14); and he calls the Pharisees a “brood of vipers” (12:34) and worse. But amid all the vitriol are some equally significant moments of mercy, like the restoration of a man's withered hand (12:13-14) and a demoniac's senses (12:22).

I think there's an important insight bound up in the contrasts found in this eighty-verse emotional roller coaster. On one hand, we are reminded that Jesus is nothing if not demanding. With his words he warns repeatedly of the coming “day of judgment” (11:22, 12:36), and with his actions he calls his followers to join him in sacrificial solidarity with all who are needy, ailing, or marginalized (11:5, 11:19, 11:25, 12:13-14, 12:22). There's no doubt about it: the Lord expects great things from us.

AND there is tender reassurance here too, a reminder that God mercifully equips us for the work ahead. We saw at the beginning of Chapter 10 how Jesus gave his disciples authority to do their healing work in the Judean countryside. Now at the end of chapter 11 he promises us all a still greater gift: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, 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” (11:28-30).

We hear these words so often that I think it's easy to overlook their counter-intuitive implication. But it seems like the message is this: the rest and refreshment goes (or rather comes) hand in hand with our willingness to shoulder, as it were, the responsibility God places upon us. It is in taking up the work of the gospel that we receive the rest our souls so long for. How exactly does that work? Beats me. My guess is that it helps us reevaluate the weight we were originally carrying.

Kyle Oliver

Seminarian studying at Virginia Theological Seminary

St. Francis House Episcopal Student Center, Madison

Repentance and Re-arranging Ourselves

Collect for the Second Sunday in Lent

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Repentance and Re-arranging Ourselves

Matthew 4:12-17

“Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested… ‘Jesus’ left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum… and began to proclaim, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’”

“Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near!” How easy it is to say it, but how difficult it is to do. Sometimes, there are moments in life when we are reminded of our human nature, a nature that is not perfect, but a nature that helps us face and re-evaluate actions that cause pain to others or to ourselves. Most of the time, after we have re-evaluated these circumstances we are invited to repent and ask for forgiveness, but it is difficult to do so. Many of us do not like to accept our own mistakes and try to run from this responsibility.

A few weeks ago, while walking around Virginia Theological Seminary’s campus, I noticed a group of trees that grew from the ground, pointing in every direction but the sky. These trees were beautiful for their unique structures, but it was precisely because of their structures that they all met a similar end. Because their main trunk was anything but strait, these trees grew pointing in all different directions and at some point, when to much weight was added to their structures, each tree would fall down and die. Because these trees do not have the possibility to re-arrange the direction in which they grow, they share a common end.

If we were trees that grew without the possibility of re-arranging our trunks, we would fall down and die, but because we are able to repent, to re-arrange our structures, we are invited to accept our mistakes and ask for forgiveness. God loves us so much that we have the opportunity to repent and to re-arrange ourselves.

In this time of lent, lets re-evaluate our own structures and come to recognize our mistakes. Let us repent. Repentance is difficult only until we take the first step...

Almighty God, help us to recognize our mistakes, but more importantly, help us repent so that we might share with you in your heavenly kingdom.

Mr. Oscar Rozo

Seminarian studying at Virginia Theological Seminary

Grace Church, Madison