Just Come

“Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

When we think of rest, we think of a day off, perhaps a vacation. I don’t know about you, but I rarely ever rest on a day off or even on vacation. In this passage Jesus is offering us so much more than a day off, a break from our busy life, when he invites us to come and partake of his rest. Jesus is offering us holy rest, an opportunity to come into His presence and rest in Him, to lay down our worries, our guilt, our sin, our heavy burdens.

While Jesus certainly speaks rest to those who are weary with worry and fear in these uncertain times, here in Matthew He is speaking specifically to those who are weary of trying to please God by their own efforts, those who labor under the law. In an attempt to keep the law, the Pharisees created laws of their own. They added these heavy burdens to the law. The law was never intended to burden us, rather to show us the need for a burden-bearer. 

You and I could never carry the heavy burden of being right with God by our own deeds. Jesus lifted that burden off our shoulders and carried it to the cross on His. He did for us what we could never do for ourselves. He removed the burden of sin and in its place he offers us rest—rest from the heavy burden of attempting to be right with God by our own deeds. Instead, Jesus says, all we have to do is come. No questions. No explanations. If you are weary, just come.