1. Grace, mercy, and, peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Dear family and friends of Norma. At a time of grieving like this, those who are present, and I on behalf of this church, offer your family and all who were close to Norma our deepest sympathy. May our Lord, who knows your needs, comfort and give you strength and faith to uphold one another. Today we’re going to look at Matthew 11:28-30. We hear the words of our Lord Jesus who says, “28Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” This verse is fitting for us to look at, since the last few years of Norma’s life haven’t been easy with the health problems that she’s suffered through.
2. Christians know that when we’re confronted with struggles, sickness, and sorrow we have a sure source of comfort, strength, and hope in Jesus our Lord and Savior, the one who died on the cross to save us from our sins. When we live by faith in our Good Shepherd and Savior, we know that He will lead us through all the valleys of life, until that blessed day comes when his angels will welcome us to our eternal home in heaven. This is why Norma’s parents brought her to the baptismal font on November 1st, 1941, to be washed and cleansed of all of her sins and to know that on that day, she was clothed with Christ and received the promise of eternal life. And this faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior from sin, death, and the power of the devil is what led Norma to confess with her lips that Jesus Christ is Lord when she confirmed her Christian faith on the day of her confirmation on May 20th, 1955.
3. We all know that Norma dealt with a long and difficult illness. When she was going through all of her health problems, where could she and her family turn to for peace and comfort? Well, the words of our Lord Jesus here in Matthew 11:28-30 speak to the problems that Norma faced. Our Lord Jesus says, “28Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
4. Jesus continually invites us to leave our heavy burden of sin and shame on his shoulders and in return to accept a light burden from him. Those who leave their heavy burden of sin with Jesus aren’t going to be without a burden altogether. Norma’s long-term illness that she fought can remind us of that. And when we think of our own lives as Christians, all of us have problems and burdens of our own that we have to deal with. But, Jesus has given us another burden to carry in the place of the heavy burden of sin. It’s the yoke of the cross of Calvary. This yoke of the cross is what every Christian bears as a result of being a disciple of our Lord Jesus. For in the same way, they have persecuted me, so they will persecute you, Jesus says (John 15:20). Though our heavy burden of sin has been lifted, there will still be trials and tribulations, for a disciple isn’t above his master.
5. And yet, compared with the heavy burden of sin which has been lifted from us, the yoke of Christ is easy, and his burden is light. A Christian knows that these crosses don’t come upon him by chance. They’re sent into his life by a loving God and are intended for our good. The Christian also knows that God will never let the cross become heavier than he’s able to bear. With each trial of faith God will also provide the ability to endure. God will supply to you the necessary strength for each new day. That’s why the burden of being a disciple and follower of Jesus will draw us closer to Him. The afflictions that we encounter in our own mortal flesh, which is slowly wasting away because of our sinful nature, will be turned to the eternal good of our soul on account of what our Lord Jesus did for us through His death on the cross and His glorious resurrection from the dead.
6. Finding rest in Jesus doesn’t mean He will remove and shield us from all pain and sorrow or lift each heavy agony of life. That’s not His promise. The promise of our Lord Jesus is that He will be with us in our pain and suffering and see us through it. Christ will lighten every heavy load. At the end of each day, we have the comfort as we place ourselves in His care. Rest in Jesus means that we as Christians have certainty and reconciliation. In Christ we have sure forgiveness of our sins. Through His cross we are reconciled with God our Heavenly Father. God’s wrath toward our sin is removed. Through Norma’s baptism into Christ this promise was given to her as well, as the Apostle Paul reminds us in Romans chapter 6.
7. What matters most of all is to be able to live—and to die—with the sure confidence that when our Lord calls his people to their eternal home, Jesus our Good Shepherd himself “will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Rev 7:17). Living and Dying in Faith in Christ Jesus—we receive our eternal rest. Amen.
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