Rest

I have been a Christian for 48+ years now. This morning I came across Jesus’ words at the end of Matthew 11 that have encouraged me many times over my life.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Why is this so encouraging? Well, it begins with a personal invitation. Jesus invites us to come to Him personally. It’s not some mass invitation to come downtown on Canada Day and celebrate. Jesus invites you and me to come to Him!
Then it shows understanding and identification with our lives of labor and heavy burdens. The grind of life sometimes wears us down. Living as Christians can add to this burden as we struggle to honor Christ and bear witness amidst life. So I am immediately intrigued by Jesus’ recognition of life’s realities.

Then Jesus makes His first promise. “I will give you rest.” That looks like the exact remedy necessary for anyone who labors and is heavy laden. But it’s not the kind of rest we may immediately think about. Jesus is not saying, “Come down to my private tropical island where you can rest and relax.” We immediately see that his promise to give rest applies to our lives here and now.

His next statement reveals this. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” The yoke was a piece of word or iron place across the shoulders of an animal like an oxen or horse. Some ropes attached the yoke to whatever needed pulling like a plow or a wagon. So the shoulders of the animal would bear the load at the point of the yoke. To take on Jesus’ yoke then, means to learn how to bear the burdens of life under His instruction.

Yet sometimes owners who place yokes on animals were harsh taskmasters. They would whip their animals and drive them to the point of exhaustion and even death. Jesus is nothing like that. He is “gentle and lowly (humble) in heart and we will find rest for our souls.” So putting on Jesus’ yoke does not add to our burden. Somehow, it transforms our burden so that we can experience rest even as we continue on in life.

His last statement is perhaps the most surprising. “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Putting together the word yoke with easy and light was almost a contradiction. The yoke symbolized heavy difficult loads. So somehow Jesus’ yoke transforms our life burdens into easy and light. How?

The major way this happens is through Jesus’ death on the cross and salvation for those who receive Him. When that happens, the burden of our sin, guilt, lostness and wandering falls off us. We can go on with life forgiven, found and purposeful as we live in the joy of the Spirit. But Jesus’ yoke also means that we no longer shoulder the burdens of our lives apart from Jesus. He is right there with us teaching us with gentleness and humility. In a way, He gets right beside us and shoulders the burden of life with us.

So if you are already a Christian, remember today the joy of your salvation. I find focusing on that can immediately put the rest of my life burdens into perspective. Then come to Jesus with the other burdens of your life. Receive His rest. Take his yoke upon you and learn from His gentle and humble teaching. And you will find rest for your soul.