Rest for the laborers

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

— Matthew 11:28

Burdened

Jesus is in the midst of his ministry in Galilee when he speaks his famous words of Matthew 11 to the weary crowds that surround him. What was it that afflicted the crowds?

Of course there was a plethora of disease and infirmity that afflicted his listeners. They were burdened with the plagues of the day. With leprosy. With demons. With deafness and blindness and paralysis. With sickness that brings about death.

The grind of this physical toil wearied the followers of Jesus, and Jesus provided in himself a freedom from those toils. He literally walked around and healed these folks as a physician would, but supernaturally healing them immediately.

There were those in the crowd who were dealing with relational and emotional distress. There were those who were surely dealing with the deaths of loved ones, who had marital distress, who had broken households. There were those in the crowd who struggled with hunger, with lack of resources, with lack of opportunity.

The weight of anxiety for tomorrow, for how they would make it another day in their circumstance, weighed on the shoulders of those surrounding Jesus. In Jesus they found a new Way, a person who taught how to live life to the full. Jesus taught how to live well now and well into eternity. In living out the teachings of Jesus, Jesus’ followers could taste heaven on earth.

All those in the crowd were Jews and were under the heavy yoke of religious legalism. At the time, the Pharisees and Scribes accumulated for themselves influence and power and set for the people rules and laws that were not given by God. Their rules detracted from life with God and brought suffering to the people under their care.

Jesus, a teacher of the Law himself, could not passively allow the heavy burden of his fellow teachers to go on enslaving people to a type of religious radicalism. In Jesus, the people found a religion of freedom, of grace, of life.

Jesus has given you the same invitation today. You have the freedom to be with Christ, to take on his freedom, and to find rest from your toils.

You may have work off today, but you will work again tomorrow. And I know work is not your only burden. You and I both have experiences with other strains relationally and physically and a host of other issues. The truest way to find peace and to find redemption from these circumstances is while pursuing the person of Jesus.

Enjoy your Labor Day. I pray that you see Jesus in your rest.

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