The Rest of Jesus

Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, 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.

Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30

It may be surprising to some that the subject of “rest” is found all throughout the Bible. In one of the Genesis creation stories, it says that God rested on the seventh day, hallowing a day of rest for the people. In the story of the Exodus, the Israelites were to keep the weekly sabbath to strengthen their reliance on the Lord, but also for sheer physical rest in the middle of their journey. Throughout the psalms, resting in God was seen as a sign of God’s favor and a goal for one’s life. And in the Christian New Testament, rest was also a promise to come, that one day, God will bring another rest (see Hebrews 4). 

Jesus himself called his disciples to rest their physical bodies. But he also invited them into the even deeper rest that is his own relationship to God the Father. Jesus wants to give us rest. 

This invitation is cast very broadly: Jesus invites all who are weary and all who are carrying heavy burdens. 

All of us know something of what it means to be weary: in body, in mind, and in soul. Sometimes we do not recognize this weariness for a long time. In other moments, we may quickly grow weary because of something we are experiencing. It can be very comforting to hear that Jesus invites us to find rest in him, rest for our souls, and that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. 

One reason the church exists is to be a community in which we can gather with one another in the presence of Jesus and lift up our burdens and our weariness. Jesus offers us forgiveness of sins and tells us to forgive one another. Jesus gives us grace and tells us to extend grace to others. Jesus offers us real mercy and tells us to be merciful toward others. Forgiveness, grace, and mercy, are not merely the spiritual/religious lingo we use when we are in church. All these words mean something. They are all gifts given to us by God. 

Jesus knew the burdens that people were carrying around him. And Jesus knows our burdens. He has come to bring us rest.