Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light. Matthew 11:28
Rest for your soul – doesn’t that sound good? Some days I’m bone-tired, exhausted from going full tilt from sunrise until well after sunset. A quiet evening, an afternoon nap, a few days at a slower pace are enough to set things right. But then there are other times I’m soul-tired, weary from the hurt and brokenness all around me in a fallen world. A nap just isn’t enough to ease the weight of an aching heart.
Don’t get me wrong, a nap can cure many things. But what about when we need soul-rest? How do we get that? Jesus spells out the answer in Matthew 11 – Come to me. Take my yoke upon you. Learn from me.
Come to me. Move closer to what you want, what you’re seeking. There’s no other person, place, or thing that can give you what you’re longing for other than Jesus. It’s both knowing where to go and actually going.
Take my yoke upon you. Tether yourself to me. Join yourself to me. Get on my team. “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). I think we overlook the significance of ‘nothing’ – it’s not that we can do quite a few things but not everything. There’s nothing we can do apart from Jesus. Cut off from Christ, we’re as useless as a cut branch. In contrast, oxen are yoked together in order to do work. Joined to Christ, we’re part of His exceedingly magnificent work.
Learn from me. Get to know me. I will show you what God the Father is like – humble and gentle. In the person of Jesus, who left heaven to take the lowest position as a tiny baby born in a barn in a backwater town, we see that God stoops down, He lowers Himself, to rescue us. He doesn’t stay seated on His throne while we’re desperately lost, but He comes to save us.
Jesus reveals how to live in intimate relationship with God, a place of such security and confidence, there’s no room for anxiety. The soul is at peace, at rest, because it knows that it has nothing to fear. We have no reason to be afraid of the Sovereign Lord Almighty. He loves us. Jesus proves that. And we have every reason for confidence that He will radically transform all things from loss to restoration, from death to life. Jesus proves that, too.
The burden I give you is light. Jesus offers us a great exchange – our burdens for His. And while we might think His burden is a Cross, I don’t think that’s what He’s talking about here. The Cross was so heavy that Jesus needed someone to help Him carry it (Matthew 27:32). But Jesus says the burden He gives us is light. It’s small, gentle, soft. Easily endurable.
Our God loves to transform broken things into whole things, captive things into free things, destruction into beauty, tears into dancing, not-enough things into abundance. He is certainly capable of making the heaviest of burdens light as a feather. But I don’t think believers in the midst of death’s dark valley are stumbling under the weight of their desperate circumstances. The burden they’re carrying is hope.
Hope is the burden that lightens all loads, that lifts all cares. Jesus says, Give me your burdens, and instead carry around the weight of hope. Hold on to the confident expectation that God will make good on all His promises. That restoration is coming. That your inheritance is a kingdom.
Those who trust in, wait for, rely on, have all their hopes riding on God will not be disappointed. It’s a glorious burden.