Matthew 11:28-30
“Some want to live within the sound of Church or chapel bells; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.” - - C.T Studd
Matthew 11:28-30
“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.”
Rest….this word and concept is often foreign to us that find ourselves in the work of being first responders. Too often “rest” for us in these professions is explored through the unhealthy means of substance abuse, sensuality or complete isolation from those we love. But not only as first responders, but Christians, what does rest look like and where is it truly found?
In the eleventh chapter of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus invites those who labor and are heavy laden to come to Him, and He will give them rest. Christ continues to reveal His heart as He tells His listeners to take His yoke upon them and learn from Him, for He is gentle and lowly in heart. The context is this statement comes from the cultural understanding of His listeners at this time. In Jewish tradition, the law of God was often viewed as “the yoke” that was used on working livestock and slaves. Under the heavy hand of the Pharisee religion, the constant tension of man’s short comings and sin would bear down the man who meditated on his spiritual standing. Christ is not trivializing the seriousness of our sin and brokenness, but revealing His heart and character towards those who truly come to Him in this brokenness.
The phrase gentle and lowly in heart conveys the humble character of Christ. Jesus tells us to learn from Him, and this is how we find rest for our souls. I have often in my Christian life heard fellow believers abuse this passage by taking the 30th verse out of context. They will say that the ‘easy yoke’ and ‘light burden’ means if you are not healthy, wealthy, and in a state of bliss emotionally then it is because of your lack of faith. But through the full revelation and context of scripture we know that the Christian life is anything but easy.
Our King is one who sees the heart of every man and knows the state of our spiritual warfare. The God-man groaned in His bowels when confronted with the disbelief of His friends at the death of Lazarus. He knows the weakness of our flesh, and yet, in our natural rejections of Him in this weakness, He tells his lost sheep to come. His yoke is easy and His burden is light because it comes from His grace.
Grace from a Father who sent His only Son to fulfill the entirety of the law and die a sinners death for us. Grace from the Son to submit willingly to the Father’s will and be betrayed, tortured, and crucified on behalf of His creation under the full weight of the cup of wrath. Grace from the Spirit to comfort us in our darkest days in the valley of this life and remind us of the Light that cast the shadow of death afar in our sanctification. This is why His burden is light, because He bore it for us.
Do we as believers truly rest in the truth of this gospel? Whether it is the affairs of our marriage, our career path and environments, our church community or our relationships, do we truly submit these things to the Lord. Are we mindful in our first world comforts of the levels of life taking and altering suffering our brothers and sisters in Christ are subjected to around the world daily? How often does our flesh project character onto God that is not revealed in scripture? Do you picture God as a distant-indifferent earthly father who has no investment in you or your spiritual health? How often do we wake up with a mindset of God as some ornery kid on the playground with a magnify glass searching for the bug that today he will scorch and harass? This is not our God.
Christ put the words of Matthew 11 into action as He hung from a Roman cross and through His suffocation uttered the words to the thief next to Him, ‘you will be with Me in paradise.’ This is our Elder Brother, our Savior, our Mediator, our Priest and our King.
Come to Him.
Exodus 33:14
“And He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Romans 7:21-8:4
“So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with the flesh I serve the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
“Man is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God’s majesty.” – John Calvin
James Doyle -August 2024-