Finding Rest for Eternity :: Matthew 11:28-30 :: Funeral of Cynthia Cummins

Dear Harley and Sheila ... dear friends and family ... dear brothers and sisters in Christ ... all of you who have gathered in remembrance of Cynthia Lawrie Cummins ... Grace to you and peace from God our Father. 

In our Gospel reading from Matthew 11, Jesus said: Come toward me, all who are laboring and being burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your very being, for my yoke is gracious and my burden is light (vv 28-30). This is the Word for our meditation. 

[Introduction]

Cynthia apparently loved this verse. She had written it out on a slip of paper that she kept it in her Bible ... probably a memory marker. Clearly, she meant to keep this promise of Jesus as a great reminder of where we find peace and rest ... which is the forgiveness of sins in Christ. And I would argue ... she apparently wanted you to have this peace and rest, too ... the forgiveness of sins in Christ. She wanted you to hear about this peace and rest for your very being ... to share this peace and rest for the rest of your lives.

A lot of us are pretty weary these days. We have been burdened by work ... putting in long hours, struggling to get ahead. We have been burdened with cancer that so quickly took Cynthia’s life. We’ve been burdened with being the best parent, the best spouse, the best mother, the best sister we can be. We’ve been burdened with piles of regret. I should have been home more, we tell ourselves. I should have played more. ... I should have gardened more. We are burdened with death.

1.

Whatever your burden is ... hear these words again that your mother, grandmother, sister loved. Jesus said, Come toward me, all who are laboring and being burdened, and I will give you rest. ... That is, go toward Jesus ... toward God ... the one true God ... who is in Jesus alone. Come toward me, he says. Come toward the only God who gives men and women rest. Come toward me, he says. I will give you rest. 

What sort of rest is this? Is it rest we get with a day off from work to tend the garden, to go fishing on Truman? To barbeque? Or to watch youth play sports? Is it the sort of rest that comes with loving on your grandchildren? Or even as simple as sleeping in? To be sure, those are all good forms of rest. And I am sure Cynthia certainly loved that rest too ... especially the rest grandmothers receive with loving on their grandchildren. 

But Jesus is speaking of an even better rest. 

To come toward Christ is not a burden. It is rest. 

To come toward Christ isn’t even something you really do. He is our rest. That’s why Jesus urges us to come. You can do this, because it is Jesus who first comes to us. In him, we learn just how gentle and humble in heart he really is. 

We Lutherans know from scripture such as this that we cannot by our own reason or strength believe in Jesus or come to him ... precisely because of the great burdens everyone bears ... but the Holy Spirit has called us by the Gospel ... giving us rest. The Holy Spirit enlightens us with his gifts ... giving us rest. The Holy Spirit sanctifies us ... making holy just as he is holy, thereby keeping us and even Cynthia in the one true faith. 

In this one true faith, Jesus, who is faithful and just, forgives us of all our sins on account of his life, his death, and his resurrection, setting us free from the burden of sin so that we can come toward him. He did all the work of redemption for us ... so that he could give us true rest. In his work of redemption, he suffered in our place ... by bearing our sin ... which is an unforgiving, unbending yoke. Jesus ensured that your sin was nailed to the cross so that it would die with him. 

And then he rested, on the Sabbath no less. Jesus rested to set you free. And on the Third Day, he rose from the dead. ... He is now risen! He is risen, indeed. Hallelujah!

This yoke of Jesus is so very easy to bear. Now we are able to look up at the cross and to believe his promise to you and Cynthia that your sins will never be heard from again. That is the ultimate rest. ... Your sin, her sins, ARE FORGIVEN ... now and forever. And you get to forgive one another. 

It doesn’t get any lighter than that, does it? 

Death has no dominion over those who have this faith in Christ. This is the rest Cynthia knows. The heavy load of death is gone ... just as surely as the huge, heavy stone was rolled away on Easter morning. The heavy load of judgment, the enormous tombstone of death, has  been rolled away and thrown into the depths of the sea. Jesus has lifts these burdens from you. And now he says to you, in warm, inviting tones: Come toward me, and you’ll receive rest!

2.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is not the only promise we have heard from God today. 

First, the Psalmist wrote, God’s people will feast on his abundance, and drink from the river of his delight (Psa 36:8). More than that, the Lord will give us rest in green pastures and lead us beside still waters (Psa 23:2) ... which is rest. ... The Lord promises all who believe in him ... eternal life in the new heavens and new earth ... the ultimate rest of joy and gladness. No more will there be ... the cry of weeping and cry of distress. ... We will not labor in vain (Isa 65:20, 23a). ... So we do not lose heart, Paul continues. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day (2 Cor 4:16).

And lest we forget, remember that all of God’s promises find their yes in him (2 Cor 1:20). He cannot change his promises. He cannot revoke his promises. He made these promises to Cynthia in her baptism, the day the Holy Spirit clothed Cynthia with the robe of Christ’s righteousness that covered all her sin (Isa 61:10). And he is making these promises to you.

And that should give you rest.

3.

It’s safe to say that we all hoped to have more time with Cynthia. We certainly have things we wish we could have said ... things we wish we could have heard from her. 

So come toward Jesus instead. Trust him alone. As he was going to the cross ... he said to his worried disciples, Let not your hearts be troubled. ... In my Father’s house there are many rooms. If it were not so, Would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also (Jn 14:1-3).

The Father’s house is the ultimate place of rest. 

Cynthia had this promise in life too ... and now in Christ Jesus she has the fulfillment of this promise. This promise wasn’t for her alone. It is for you, too. She is in God’s hands ... in his rest ... with all those who believe in Him ... not because she was the perfect Christian, but because Jesus who is perfect loves her and has given her rest. 

[Conclusion]

Your mother, grandmother, and sister would want for you to have this ... to trust this ... to trust that she’s safe and at rest in the hands of Jesus. And one day soon, in a moment, in the twinkling of the eye ... the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed (1 Cor 15:52). Then you will indeed find rest for your very being (v 28) ... in Jesus’ name. Amen.