Jesus says this in Matthew 11:28-30: 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
This is a remarkable invitation that Jesus gives in this passage. There are three very pertinent questions that should be asked about this summons: Who gives it? Who is given this offer? Why is this invitation important?
The first question, “Who gives it?” is easy to answer. This invitation to come to Him is straight from Jesus. In the Gospels, Jesus declares His identity as the Messiah, the Savior of the world, and the divine Son of God. Therefore, we know that God Himself is calling weary people to seek Him for the rest they so dearly desire and need.
The answer to the second question, “Who is given this offer?” is that it is for “all who labor and are heavy laden.” This invitation is for all of humanity. It includes everyone! It doesn’t single out a certain group within humanity to the exclusion of others but includes everyone. We are all in some way weary and heavy laden as we live broken lives in a broken world. Since this invitation to come is from Christ, we need to take our burdens to Christ. This includes the burden of our sins, the burden of our anxieties, our challenges, and everything else that is a weight on our hearts and minds.
“Why does all this matter?” Perhaps most importantly, it matters because the God of all the universe sees our need and extends the invitation. God Himself! Not just a friend who is also broken, but the One who stepped into the brokenness, experienced it all, yet has the might and power to lift us up out of the depths, calls us! Jesus invites us to “find rest for our souls.”
This promise of rest is based on Christ’s faithfulness and His mercy. Since Jesus is God the Son, and He is perfectly faithful in keeping His promises including this promise of rest, we can be assured that His Word is dependable. Our Lord Jesus Christ lived a perfect life of submission to God the Father’s will for our salvation. He lived a life of total obedience to the Father, including His death, His death on the cross for our sins. He also conquered sin and death by His death and resurrection. Alistair Begg says in his devotional on this passage, “We can rest from our striving to make something of ourselves or to earn heaven for ourselves when we come to Jesus and receive all we need, and could ever need, from Him.”
Let us accept this remarkable invitation and bring all our burdens to Him, the King of kings and Lord of lords, and receive His rest.
