And You Will Find Rest

Illustration

In 2014 I took a 3 month Sabbatical. One of things I did was something I had wanted to do for a long time. Guess what that was? - a Triathlon

Triathlons are pretty hard

Standard or Olympic Triathlon—1.5 kilometer (0.93 mile) swim / 40km (25 mi) bike / 10 km (6.2 mi) run

Sprint Triathlon—750 meter (0.465 mile) swim / 20 kilometer (12.5 mi) bike / 5 km (3.1 mi) run.

I started with a run (reverse sprint triathlon). After about a mile my knees were already hurting. I was already tired.

Eventually I finished the run… when I got to my bike I noticed that most bikes were already gone

Non professional, heavy hybrid road bike I went off

I was being passed up by people who physically had no business passing me up. I was tired

I didn’t even know how far I was supposed to ride, I just knew that I had to ride (felt like it would never finish)

And yes, I finished the bike ride, which was helpful to my knees that I kept pounding on but by the time I got off the bike I was limping to the pool. I get to the pool and just when I’m about to get in… “where are your goggles?”

Back to the bike to get my goggles, back to the pool (by this time people were already packing up their stuff).

I begin to swim the number laps. I was tired, good thing it was a pool because I wouldn’t had made it.

and then… I was done!

I don’t remember how long it took but the point for me was that I actually finished.

I was tired and weary and I had to rest.

In this race, I was offered rest at the end of the line or if I gave up. I really didn’t want to give up, I really wanted to get to the finish line and rest there.

____

Today’s message teaches us that in this race we call life we can get very tired, bogged down, discouraged.

But many people live their lives with the promise that they’ll get rest - but at the finish line.

In this passage Jesus is offering us rest as we run the rest, you don’t have to wait to get to the finish line.

He offered to link arms with us, support us, and even teach us along the way how to run this race.

Matthew wrote these words that he heard Jesus pronounce.

Why did Jesus invite people there to “come to him”. In the previous verses leading up to this part of the story we find Jesus speaking to a group of religious leaders.

This all started because Jesus likes to hang out with sinners and the outcasts. They called Jesus a “Friend of Tax Collectors and Sinners” (Matt 11:19)

That which was meant as an insult Jesus wore as a badge of honor. Then Jesus went on to pronounce these words with the purpose to shock these religious leaders that they would have to take a serious look at their own spiritual condition. If they are not willing to sit with so-called “sinners” then what are you doing?

Matthew 11:21-27 is known as the "woes".

But after saying these words, knowing that many where wondering, “well, if that’s truly our spiritual condition, then what must I do?”

The invitation is not to keep doing what you are doing, instead the invitation is the same invitation he makes to all of us here today.

The "rest" that Jesus invites us into is the experience our souls long for and we can rest even when we busy.

Come to Me

Invitation to a relationship

stop running to other things or other people (other relationships)

When we are seeking to fill the void of the relationship we are supposed to have with Christ we seek for it by gaining material things (things we acquire in order to feel better about ourselves)

The invitation is not to keep doing what you are doing, instead the invitation is to take a different direction on the road...

I mean, just ask yourself this morning,

“Why am I so tired?”

Maybe it's not just because you work so much or how busy you are. You can still be “tired” even on the weekends, on holidays or vacation.

You get tired when you are seeking to fill your void with relationships in order to find friends that will help you take away the loneliness and still finding yourself lonely even when you have friends.

you get tired when you are trying to fill the void by trying and working hard to be good, to prove yourself, to prove you are somebody and living trying to please someone (a parent, a teacher, someone who said you couldn't). But you still find yourself frustrated, tired of trying so hard and that person you're trying to impress isn't even aware of your efforts.