In our reading from Matthew, we see him take a closer look at people’s responses to Jesus; and we find Jesus frustrated, puzzled and questioning ‘To what can I compare this generation? What you might call a ‘bit of tearing your hair’ out moment! It is God’s greatest desire that every man, woman and child should be saved from sin, should be reconciled with Him, and He’s left no stone unturned in trying to achieve this.

The Old Testament of our Bibles is a catalogue of promises and covenants continually broken, new covenants being made, only to be broken too. God was frequently angry and often dealt with individuals and nations harshly with flood, death, plagues, destruction, the dreadful threat of the law intended to work on their fear. When all else has failed he sends his most precious gift of all, his only son, Jesus, to show the world what He, God, is truly like and the majority fail to recognise him!  “I send my finest and still you do not see!!”

John the Baptist came neither eating or drinking, and they said he was a demon.
Jesus came eating and drinking, enjoying being with ordinary people, celebrating the Kingdom of Heaven with all and sundry, speaking of God’s lavish generous love and forgiveness and that was not right with them either!! They accused Him of being a rebellious Son leading Israel astray, a false prophet, a glutton and a drunkard!

He was not what they expected as their Messiah. They were waiting for a Messiah who would come and set them free from the Romans, who would rule like a king, and look after them.

Jesus’s message was challenging. It required them to change; he was telling them about a new way of living and trusting in him.

He was showing them that God’s love is breaking into the world in a new way, a different way, like a fresh breeze blowing through a garden and shaking the old blossom off the trees There will always be people who don’t like their lifestyle, their beliefs, their way of doing things being challenged. Change can be risky.

Verses 16-19 end with the words “Wisdom is proved right by her actions”. In the Message version of the Bible, it says “The proof of the pudding is in the eating!”

You can know all there is to know about the Bible, be the most learned scholar in Greek and Hebrew, be able to quote chapter and verse at the drop of a hat, but unless you have taken the step of faith, the step that your heart not your mind tells you to take, you don’t fully experience the Holy Spirit within you and the excitement of the walk with Christ.

In worldly terms that step of faith is a risk, but one with eternal rewards.  Our Christian life is a journey, it can be exciting, a bit scary at times, but whatever God calls us to do, he will equip us for the task and we don’t have to do it alone for He is there with us.

In verses 25-30 we see Jesus turn from despair to thankfulness. According to Jewish tradition, the Torah contains 613 commandments, which Jews were required to follow. It was thought that only those who devoted themselves to following the law would ultimately know God. For the average Jew of the day this put wisdom as far out of reach as being a heart surgeon or rocket science would today.

Jesus sliced through that: NO! he said you just need to be like a small child. Earlier he had accused the people in the marketplace of being childish. Jesus says be childlike – small children see things through innocent eyes. How often have we been struggling to do something, and a child says “Why don’t you do…? and our reaction is “Why didn’t I think of that?!!

It was the ordinary people of his day – the poor, the sinners,
for whom Jesus was a window into the Living God. And Jesus offered them one of the most welcome invitations “Come to me and I will give you rest.” The welcome is for all who take the step of faith and commit to journey with him.  Do we make our faith too complicated?  Do we try to reason and apply logic to our faith?  Do we do things in our own strength, or do we lift our eyes to God and offer Him our burdens?  The burdens may not go away, but we don’t bear them alone; and the strength and wisdom we need to bear them, and hopefully overcome them will be given to us by God. 

Amen