Friday, June 24
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30 NIV
You don’t have to look far to find a lot of opinions about Rest. Every commercial in the world promises it, every person at work longs for it, people spend months preparing to go to Disney to find it, and late night TV is filled with ways to achieve it faster.
It’s a big deal to us humans.
Since it’s such a big deal, let’s take a look at how the author and perfector of our faith describes it.
Jesus is the source of rest
He says that when we come to Him, He will give us rest. He offers it in contrast to the wearying and heavy burdens that the world offers, and He takes care of those burdens for us. He doesn’t define that or put restrictions on it, it’s more of a “Hey weary and heavy burdened! You know who you are, come on!” You know what rest is? He’s got it and He wants to share!
Jesus wants to teach us something that will give our souls rest.
He says to take His yoke upon yourself. That’s like saying put on my weight lifting belt, or suit up into my armor. A yoke was a big heavy wooden thing you would fit onto an ox or some other animal to keep control of them or attach a plow or some tools that they would tow. Since it was the way an ox pulled things and was controlled, “yoke” became Rabbi slang for a worldview, or the way someone thought and acted about the world. Jesus says that He is gentle and humble, and that if you think like Him with a yoke like His, even your soul will be at rest. Not only that, but to take on His yoke isn’t a hefty/difficult thing; it’s easy and light.
What does it mean to you today that the real Christian life, as defined by Jesus, is a light burden?
What things do we try to draw our identity, relief, or rest from that aren’t Jesus, and how would we experience true relief and rest if we tried to get those things only from Him?
Galatians 6:2 says that by bearing one another’s burdens we fulfill the law of Christ. Are there some burdens waiting to become easy and light by sharing them with your small group?