This week I’ve been pondering rest. In Matthew 11 it says this:
“Then Jesus said, ‘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 at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.’” (Matthew 11:28-30)
At a Bible study discussion, we were thinking about this passage and pondering what rest looks like in the context of a busy life. Something we ended up on was that God’s rest doesn’t look like us not being busy, or being “lazy”; we might still be running around and busy and doing things all the live-long day.
But rest in the Lord is not the rest of the world. It means that our heavy burdens are given to Jesus. It means spending time with the Father and experiencing His peace.
We also discussed in relation to this passage the idea of taking Jesus’s yoke. Not only does Jesus’s rest not mean doing nothing, he actually gives us a yoke.
But Jesus doesn’t give us a yoke and then shoo us onto the path to figure things out for ourselves. He says he will teach us, and that his teaching leads to rest for our souls.
Another image that came to mind in reference to a yoke is the idea that sometimes you have two ox or animals yoked together. It almost indicates that we are supposed to carry this yoke with Jesus, with our community.
These are sort of a recap of some of our thoughts. Hopefully this provokes some thoughts for you too.
