REST UNTO YOUR SOULS Schripture lessons: Zachariah 9:9-12 en Matthew 11:25-30 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Matthew 11:27 It will probably surprise you, but the ‘doctrine' and ‘teachings' of the Church have always fascinated me. A love that is not shared by everybody. In the theological world is a discussion at present about Jesus: is He really the ‘Son of God'? And quite a few theologians deny the doctrine of the "Trinity'. They say these doctrines are Greek constructions of the mind and they alienate Jesus from the people He belongs to, the Jews. And of course it is important to recognize that Jesus is a Jew, but we should not lock Him up in the Jewish culture. Why should God not be able to make a new beginning and could He not communicate the truth of Jesus in the thought forms of the non-Jewish people? I am the first one to recognize that God's revelation cannot be put into some ‘truths' and ‘doctrines' that men have simply to accept. An honest faith needs honest thinking and leaves room for honest doubts. If it was necessary to understand all doctrines about God and Jesus, most people - if not all! - should be shut out. In his discussion with the Scribes Jesus says that God has hidden ‘these things' for the wise and intelligent ones. He criticises a way of believing, in which God and faith have been minimized to a system. People do not need to learn anymore. Well, when we have made God to fit into our doctrines, we fall under the same judgement as the ones who are criticised by Jesus. A right doctrine is not meant to satisfy the mind, but to give peace unto the soul. The fathers of the Church dit not speak about the Trinity to explain the mystery of God's being, but to safeguard it! . We have to deal with a mystery. A relationship between to people already has something of a mystery for people who are outsiders. And the relationship between Jesus and His Father is incomprehensible for us! "Nobody knows the Son but the Father and nobody knows the Father but the Son". It is if we hear John's testimony in the first chapter of his gospel: there is a unique union between Father and son: the can read in one another's heart. What we know about God we know thanks to Jesus: His words, His acts of healing and deliverance. God's purpose with us is revealed in Him. That knowledge does not fill us with pride, but makes us silent and thankful. That knowledge is for everybody, even for children. For ‘; ignorant ones" the Greek says. Possibly the word the Scribes used for the people who followed Jesus. To believe in Jesus makes one ignorant indeed: we recognize that we can not know God with our human philosophies. It is offensive to Israel's sages that in a gluttonous man, a wine bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners, God could turn Himself towards us. In this man they do not find the seriousness of faith, the scrupulous fulfilment of the 613 prescriptions derived from the Thora. Suppose one should think that believing is open to just anybody! And up until the present day we find people who think they know better than Jesus. In the very name of Jesus' they close the Kingdom for anyone who does not fit in their ethical or doctrinal system. They ‘know' already, where others are still seeking. Matthew tells us that there is only One to whom all things are given. Jesus is the embodiment of Gods wisdom and love, but He does not keep it as a secret for Himself. What is given to Him is not only for a small club of devotees. "Come to Me, all ye that labour", He says. What God has given Him, He wants to reveal to week, seeking and ignorant people like you and me. Jesus' calling does not make people self supporting, does not place them on thrones to judge others. Jesus' calling does make us disciples, learners, makes them lowly in heart like Jesus. In Zachariah's prophecy is proclaimed that the Messianic King is lowly in heart. He is longsuffering, A bruised reed He shall not break, and a smoking wick He shall not quench, says the prophet. He is the teacher who does not blame us our ignorance, but who makes us His disciples in freedom! The yoke that we always ‘must' do special things, the yoke of what is expected from us by others, the yoke of a faith that has been turned into a system that we have to swallow - He takes away that yoke. In our closing hymn we sing: "Go in peace, go and make it come true". "Go and make it come true" might beforehand make us feel tired and oppress us if we do not take care. So many things must come true, should be realised in this world. This exhortation may only sound if it is connected with the words that go before: "God in peace". Go with God's blessing, in His freedom, dismissed from all you should and you must. Marieke received God's blessing, without having done something or without the ability to do anything now. But God shall realise His promise. He will make it come true! Being made children of God, He places us in a spacious place where His promises shall become true. This morning we baptised in the Name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We don't have to understand a bit of the doctrine of the Trinity, to realise that something happened here about which we can only stutter. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ does not wait until we understand what the content is of all the great words of faith, but He bends over to our small, ignorant existence. "You have closed me in behind and in front, and laid Your hand on me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot go up to it." (Psalm 139:5,6) "Go and make it come true" - blessed people are people who dare to be disciples, learners, again. " The Lord Jehovah has given Me the tongue of the learned, to know to help the weary with a word. He wakens morning by morning, He wakens the ear to hear as the learned" (Is. 64:4) The soft yoke under which Jesus calls us is the lifelong mandate to be discipels, learners. Believing is not without committment: it is a calling to stay loyal to our Redeemer. " For I say, through the grace given to me, to every one who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think" (Rom. 12:3), writes the apostle. "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves".(Philippians 2:3). I don't wish to promote false humility here, something that has so often given Christianity a wrong reputation. I am speaking about ‘humilitas', a Latin word that has to do with ‘humus', the ground. We are created from dust, we are nor Gods, nor angels. Every time when we remember our own baptism , we are reminded of whom we are: children of God by His calling. In that calling we find rest for our souls: the ‘knowledge' that Jesus does not seek fully qualified believers. Lowly in heart Jesus turns towards us and embraces us with the Fathers love. Sermon on th 4th of Juli 1999, Utrecht