Jesus said, "Come to me all you who are weary and 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."
As comforting words go, these are amongst the most popular in the Bible – Jesus promising to take away any burdens from us… This evening I want to think about them in two parts :-
The first part is the words "Come to me all you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."
At some time or another, perhaps far too often, we will all be weighed down by burdens – perhaps those burdens will be work related, perhaps family or health related, perhaps financial or social – burdens come in lots of different shapes and sizes ! But Jesus says, ‘Come to me and I will give you rest…’
Now, far be it from me to share useless information with you but apparently in the early days of cars, it was common for eating and drinking places to be built on the tops of long hills. The reason had nothing to do with good views, but they were built for the convenience of people who needed to stop and let their overheated radiators cool down.
And that is surely one of the functions of worship for many of us - a time for rest and refreshment - when we let the overheated radiators of our lives cool down so that we can enjoy the rest and refreshment that we all need so much.
All of us know about burdens, but how many of us really look for the solution in Jesus – and yet he is the one who promises peace, and by casting our burdens on him – he will take them from us and rebuild us with his energy and his Spirit...
When Jesus spoke of burdens and of our coming to him he was most certainly talking about the burdens that we might meet in our every day lives but as a reading of the gospel quickly indicates, Jesus was also speaking of the burdens of religion - the burdens that are weighing us down such as endless rules and regulations concerning what we can and cannot do - at work, at play, at home - and at church.
Jesus broke radically with the religious pattern that had been established by the religious people of his day. He ate and drank while others fasted. He plucked grain and fed his disciples on the Sabbath – while others looked on in disapproval. He rejoiced in God while others prayed solemnly with long faces. He called God 'Father' while others dared not even speak the name of the Lord.
Jesus came to us to lift the heavy burdens of life and of religion from our backs. He urges us to know that faith is a thing that is meant to set us free - free to truly worship - and to truly serve God - with joy and love in our hearts - on the Sabbath and on each and every day in between.
Come to me - all you who are tired – all you who are worried about things - all you who are feeling drained - all you who are feeling empty - all you who are burdened by a sense of disappointment and let down - all you who are exhausted by the struggles of life and weighed down by your sense of duty and of what is right and wrong - and I will give you rest. I will cleanse you - I will fill you with new joy - and establish you in a relationship with God that will give you new life - here and in the world to come.
That is the first part of what Jesus had to say - of what Jesus promised.
The second part is this - "take my yoke upon you and learn from me."
This seems a contradiction - in one breath Jesus promises rest from our burdens, and then he speaks of taking up another burden and another yoke.... But this is a different kind of burden – In life none of us will ever be completely burden free forever, but the issue is not if we shall be burdened - but what shall we be burdened with ?
Jesus is interested in removing the harness that we forge for ourselves, or the world forges for us with its constant demands and pressures, so that he can place around our shoulders his own yoke - his own harness – the yoke, the harness, the burden - that brings to us new life, new energy, new joy. To us - and to others through us..
The promise and the reality is that the Burden that Christ has for us, the Yoke he offers to us when we come to him and learn from him, is that it is an easy burden, and that in wearing his yoke and learning from him, we will find rest.
Jesus' promise is not that we shall find a good holiday with him - that we will be able to get away from every problem, but rather that he will refresh our souls when we come into his presence - and that when we go out - with him - into the world again, that he will replace the burdens that destroy and exhaust us with a burden, and a yoke, that will be life affirming and easier to carry.
His promise is that when we come to him, when we learn from him, and offer ourselves to him, that he will minister to us and through us – that he will give strength and hope and joy and peace, and patience and love… that he will give us new life - here and now and in the world to come.
A pastor used the following parable to illustrate Christ's offer of rest and the response of people who won't trust Him completely: The driver of a wagon was on his way to market when he overtook an old man carrying a heavy load. Taking pity on him, the driver invited the old man to ride in the wagon. Gratefully the old man accepted. After a few minutes, the driver turned to see how the man was doing. To his surprise, he found him still straining under the heavy weight, for he had not taken the burden off his shoulders.
May we not continue to carry heavy burdens, but accept the promise of Jesus who says, "Come to me all you who are weary and 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." AMEN
As comforting words go, these are amongst the most popular in the Bible – Jesus promising to take away any burdens from us… This evening I want to think about them in two parts :-
The first part is the words "Come to me all you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."
At some time or another, perhaps far too often, we will all be weighed down by burdens – perhaps those burdens will be work related, perhaps family or health related, perhaps financial or social – burdens come in lots of different shapes and sizes ! But Jesus says, ‘Come to me and I will give you rest…’
Now, far be it from me to share useless information with you but apparently in the early days of cars, it was common for eating and drinking places to be built on the tops of long hills. The reason had nothing to do with good views, but they were built for the convenience of people who needed to stop and let their overheated radiators cool down.
And that is surely one of the functions of worship for many of us - a time for rest and refreshment - when we let the overheated radiators of our lives cool down so that we can enjoy the rest and refreshment that we all need so much.
All of us know about burdens, but how many of us really look for the solution in Jesus – and yet he is the one who promises peace, and by casting our burdens on him – he will take them from us and rebuild us with his energy and his Spirit...
When Jesus spoke of burdens and of our coming to him he was most certainly talking about the burdens that we might meet in our every day lives but as a reading of the gospel quickly indicates, Jesus was also speaking of the burdens of religion - the burdens that are weighing us down such as endless rules and regulations concerning what we can and cannot do - at work, at play, at home - and at church.
Jesus broke radically with the religious pattern that had been established by the religious people of his day. He ate and drank while others fasted. He plucked grain and fed his disciples on the Sabbath – while others looked on in disapproval. He rejoiced in God while others prayed solemnly with long faces. He called God 'Father' while others dared not even speak the name of the Lord.
Jesus came to us to lift the heavy burdens of life and of religion from our backs. He urges us to know that faith is a thing that is meant to set us free - free to truly worship - and to truly serve God - with joy and love in our hearts - on the Sabbath and on each and every day in between.
Come to me - all you who are tired – all you who are worried about things - all you who are feeling drained - all you who are feeling empty - all you who are burdened by a sense of disappointment and let down - all you who are exhausted by the struggles of life and weighed down by your sense of duty and of what is right and wrong - and I will give you rest. I will cleanse you - I will fill you with new joy - and establish you in a relationship with God that will give you new life - here and in the world to come.
That is the first part of what Jesus had to say - of what Jesus promised.
The second part is this - "take my yoke upon you and learn from me."
This seems a contradiction - in one breath Jesus promises rest from our burdens, and then he speaks of taking up another burden and another yoke.... But this is a different kind of burden – In life none of us will ever be completely burden free forever, but the issue is not if we shall be burdened - but what shall we be burdened with ?
Jesus is interested in removing the harness that we forge for ourselves, or the world forges for us with its constant demands and pressures, so that he can place around our shoulders his own yoke - his own harness – the yoke, the harness, the burden - that brings to us new life, new energy, new joy. To us - and to others through us..
The promise and the reality is that the Burden that Christ has for us, the Yoke he offers to us when we come to him and learn from him, is that it is an easy burden, and that in wearing his yoke and learning from him, we will find rest.
Jesus' promise is not that we shall find a good holiday with him - that we will be able to get away from every problem, but rather that he will refresh our souls when we come into his presence - and that when we go out - with him - into the world again, that he will replace the burdens that destroy and exhaust us with a burden, and a yoke, that will be life affirming and easier to carry.
His promise is that when we come to him, when we learn from him, and offer ourselves to him, that he will minister to us and through us – that he will give strength and hope and joy and peace, and patience and love… that he will give us new life - here and now and in the world to come.
A pastor used the following parable to illustrate Christ's offer of rest and the response of people who won't trust Him completely: The driver of a wagon was on his way to market when he overtook an old man carrying a heavy load. Taking pity on him, the driver invited the old man to ride in the wagon. Gratefully the old man accepted. After a few minutes, the driver turned to see how the man was doing. To his surprise, he found him still straining under the heavy weight, for he had not taken the burden off his shoulders.
May we not continue to carry heavy burdens, but accept the promise of Jesus who says, "Come to me all you who are weary and 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." AMEN
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