SERMONS

By The Rev. Alston Johnson

In ancient Greece there was a man named Aesop.
Aesop likes to tell fables.

When a certain man of Athens saw Aesop playing with marbles amidst a crowd of boys, he stood there and laughed at Aesop as if Aesop were crazy.

As soon as he realized what was going on, Aesop -- who was an old man far more inclined to laugh at others than to be laughed at himself -- took an unstrung bow and placed it in the middle of the road.

'Okay, you smart something know-it-all,{all said in Greek of course}’ he said, 'explain the meaning of what I just did.' All the people gathered round.

The man wracked his brains for a long time but he could not manage to answer Aesop's question. Eventually he gave up.

Having won this battle of wits, Aesop then explained,
'If you keep your bow tightly strung at all times, it will quickly break, but if you let it rest, it will be ready to use whenever you need it.' In the same way the mind must be given some amusement from time to time, so that you will find yourself able to think more clearly afterwards.

Isn’t it interesting how we so often feel that busyness and mental exhaustion are simply modern inventions? Always living on the cusp, on the edge, with so much to do, so much to accomplish, so busy - but it is not a modern problem.

Human beings have always felt inclined to believe that what they are doing is important enough to drive themselves to distraction and weariness in doing it.

This little tale from Aesop and ancient Greece was written down about 600 B.C.; 600 years prior to Jesus . . . you know that time . . . long, long ago, when folks could just sit on the front porch in Athens, read the paper and drink iced tea, back when folks had more time. There was less stress then; Aesop was just spinning tales in 600 B.C.

Being weary, being tired, being busy and driven to distraction, is not a modern problem. Once the power and the presence of Jesus becomes known in the hills of Galilee, Jesus and the disciples are inundated, overwhelmed. Jesus sends his friends out on a kind of mission, where they heal, where they preach, where they teach the crowds. And the disciples return tapped out and worn out.

If I have said it once, I have said it a thousand times: the life of being a follower of Christ is sort of like being the mail man, if you are good at serving Christ, you will only get to do more of it. There is always more Gospel to deliver.

Jesus sees that his friends need to unstring the bow; they need to rest, both in their bodies and in their souls.
You know it reminds of my grandfather’s bird dogs. He kept bird dogs in Grand Junction, Tennessee for years, and often in the summer we would take them out to run. And he would sometimes fasten these little toggles with rubber balls on rope, hanging down right over their fore paws.

I said, “Bob, what is that?”

“Those put the brakes on these rascals. They will get on a scent and run themselves dead, literally dead, if you don’t slow them down. Those balls are like their brakes; makes them slow down, not run so hard, not kill themselves in the heat.”

I was fascinated; never thought that an animal would kill itself in the midst of pursuit. Not until I got a bit older, until I got to know myself, and a few other human animals; there are more than a few human animals who would kill themselves in the midst of pursuit, who could use some brakes.

Jesus seems to know that about us - that we have a propensity to get on a scent, and not turn it lose. Unlike the shepherds we hear about in Jeremiah today, who destroy and scatter the sheep, Jesus is a good shepherd; and the good shepherd will not wear out the flock, will not break the bow. The Good Shepherd recalls one of God’s most ancient gifts to us: From Exodus Chapter 20: The Fourth Commandment.

Number Four – pretty high on the totem pole.
[8] "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
[9] Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; [10] but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; [11] for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

Why is it some us feel that we must work harder than God?

Throughout the story of God and his people, there is a divine and holy permission and commandment to rest, to rest in our souls and our bodies.

Perhaps it has been commanded because we are so loath to do it.

Perhaps this deep rest requires that we overcome something, perhaps it requires courage, trust, and faith to rest in the hands of the one who made us.

That God should command us to rest, and Jesus remind us to rest - this should tell us something about ourselves, that we generally feel inclined to believe that what they we are doing is important enough to drive ourselves to distraction and weariness in doing it. As though there were no other power in heaven and earth at work in our lives.

In my own life it raises questions; when I am hurried and harried, when I am too busy, not so much in body as in soul, then perhaps I need to ask some hard questions about whom I trust?, whom I serve?, for whom do I labor?
Because it is clear as a bell that our Lord would not have us be like bird dogs on a scent in summer - running ourselves literally to death. There is a time for the brakes to be put on, even when the labor seems unrelenting.
You see, we are all tempted to push ourselves to distraction, as though God’s work is not going to get done in any other way.

None of us is that indispensable, to the degree that we commit a voluntary suicide by working ourselves to death, putting ourselves beyond the grasp of the goodness that God would give us. No, Jesus loves us too much for that - and he is always reminding us just when we think we cannot add one more thing to the plate that is full -
"Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while. Do you see these green pastures that I have prepared for you; can you see the still waters?

He is saying, “It is all for you, because I love you, because I love you; Come and rest.”