Jesus Said Come to Me All Who are Weary and I Will Give You Rest

Is the world out of balance?  Or is it just me?

Do any of us think through our lives?  Like, I mean really think it through.  The decisions we make.  The distances we go to keep the status quo.  Or maybe to break free from the same old same old.

It’s easy to get stuck in a rut.  You wake up one day and it’s five, ten, twenty years later.  You start to wonder how it happened so quickly.

These questions are probably just first world problems.  In ancient times, you wouldn’t have had the chance to sit around and ponder.  You’d just have to work until you went to sleep and then start all over again.  The age old symbol of the snake eating it’s tail.

I had a patient come to me the other day.  He felt hopeless.  Like his life would be no more than endless destruction from drugs.  A snake eating it’s own tail.

He had no tears.  Those days were done.  Only emptiness and regret.

Fortunately for him, he was still alive.  And in the right place to get help, with plenty of time for us to work on a new strategy.  A plan for recovery and growth.  Heroin wouldn’t have the final say.

And like most things, this encounter got me thinking.

I was thinking about these bible verses:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  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.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

                      —Matthew 11:28-30

In a world of death and destruction, Jesus offers us a strange promise….

But what did Jesus mean when he said “Come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest”?   And why did He say his burden was easy?

Didn’t he ask for people to die to themselves?  Didn’t he say that everyone that wanted to find their lives would have to lose them?  That doesn’t sound very easy to me.

Also……What exactly is a yoke anyway?

You know, I never really understood the concept of a yoke until recently.  I always thought a yoke just attached an animal to a plow, cart, etc.  But I found out there’s more to it than that.   A yoke is a device used to attach two animals so they can pull a load together.

Jesus claimed the pharisee’s and religious leaders placed a load on the back of the people.  They refused to help lift it (Luke 11).  Their yoke was a combination of rules and laws that were designed to make the people good enough for God.  It became nothing more than ritual and ceremony and legal loopholes.

Jesus said that these rules didn’t get people into heaven, but only locked them out.

So….How was Jesus’s way better?

It certainly didn’t mean that our lives would be easy if we did the right thing.

In fact, often following The Way makes our lives more difficult.  But Jesus makes the burden light by carrying it with us.  By doing the work.  He says that his yoke is the true law and that law is the law of love.

Love God with all your heart, mind, and soul.  He taught that this was all we really need to do.  And if we do that, everything else will follow.

This is our faith…that Love is all.

And God’s love can carry us through any Hell we find ourselves in.

So maybe the world is out of balance.

Maybe we make mistakes.

Maybe we all feel hopeless at times.

But there’s something to remember….

Especially during this Christmas season.

In the midst of all the chaos, cancer, addiction, death, and self destruction…….

Immanuel.

God is with us.

p.s.