OS XIV: 'Rest from what?'

Yesterday we celebrated a Requiem Mass for the repose of the soul of John Taaff, a parishioner at St Peter’s for some 56 years, Vicar’s Warden for more than a decade, member and subsequently chair of the Charitable Foundation from soon after its inauguration in 1999.

John was very clear about the details of his Requiem. After working hard at the first draft of the liturgy last week, John’s close friend, and current Church Warden, Helen Drummond, returned it to me: “where are the ‘comfortable words’?” she said. There could be no trimming down of the B.C.P. Mass for John’s Requiem.

Hear what comfortable words our Saviour Christ saith unto all that truly turn to him. ‘Come unto me all that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you’ (St Matthew 11:2).

And quite right too! On a personal note, I must say, this verse gives me great comfort. I was brought up on the B.C.P. and heard these words said every week from before I could even understand them. They are well named: comfortable words. They touch deeply on something of the human condition, as do all our Lord’s teachings.

Since becoming a priest they are words that I have come to love proclaiming to others too. For 25 years now I have been looking out at you and other congregations from behind my prayer book. As I do, I often recall conversations I’ve had about death, grief, disappointment, injustice and illness. I also see in you something of the unsaid anxieties, the body language, the sad or angry expression in an unguarded moment. I resonate with what I see, because these same human realities are at play within myself. And then I have the huge privilege (at the old 8am BCP Mass at least; which I hope will soon resume) I have the great privilege of pronouncing these ‘comfortable words’ of our Saviour: come to me all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

But rest from what?

As with all Bible verses, the deeper meaning often sits beneath a surface interpretation. What is the author of Matthew’s gospel saying here through Christ’s words? Rest from what? Rest from the burdens of life?

As we sit here at Mass, we may well long for an easing of the burdens of everyday life: a stressful job, a broken relationship, a long-term illness, the pandemic. Much as we may wish them to be, however, the comfortable words are not really about this. These are heavy burdens we all have to carry whether we are Christian or not. Our churches would have long been full every day of the week if being a believer meant a magic panacea to all life’s pain and suffering.

So, rest from what? Paul Tillich’s sermon on this verse is worth a read, or a re-read, in his book The Shaking of the Foundations (1949), p. 101:

The burden [Jesus] wants to take from us is the burden of religion . . .. Those who labour and are heavy laden are those who are sighing under the yoke of the religious law. And He will give them the power to overcome religion and law; the yoke He gives them is a "new being" above religion.

Religion can bring profound Salvation, to individuals as well as to communities and even whole societies. But equally, as history demonstrates so clearly, religion can lay a huge weight on human shoulders; and that is the antithesis of the teaching of the Christ. The message of the Gospels is a message of liberation and freedom; a new being.

Christ came to lift the yoke of oppression – be that individual, societal or even religious – and as religious people we must take great care to consider the yoke we place on ourselves and on others.

Tillich puts it like this (p. 105):

‘Take my yoke upon you and learn of me … for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’ This does not indicate a quantitative difference – a little easier, a little lighter. It indicates a contradiction! The yoke of Jesus is easy in itself, because it is above law, and replaces the toiling and labouring, with rest in our souls. The yoke of religion and law presupposes all those splits and gaps in our souls which drive us to the attempt to overcome them. The yoke of Jesus is above these splits and gaps … It is not a new demand a new doctrine, or new morals, but rather a new reality, a new being, and a new power of transforming life. He calls it a yoke, He means that it comes from above and grasps us with saving force; if He calls it easy, He means that it is not a matter of our acting and striving, but rather that it is given before anything that we can do.

The act of Eucharist, the silence and simplicity of contemplative prayer, are a reminder of this truth each time we enter into them. We come, with our troubles and our woes. We sit, we pray, we listen with open hearts. We offer open hands, and receive the Blessed Sacrament; or at home we offer open hands, and also receive the gentle breath of the Holy Spirit. This is transforming life. This is a new reality, a new being implanted, awakened within us. Our troubles and our woes may still be there when we return to everyday life. But we are transformed. We bear the lightness of the yoke of Christ. Refreshed and reborn, we are able to face the struggles of life with a renewed strength and confidence. Thanks be to God!