I want you to think of a time in your life when you were exhausted. That moment when the tank was empty, you were depleted, and you had nothing left to give. Think of that time. Think of the most tiring day, or season, in your entire life. Recall the feelings and emotions. For me, the moment that comes to my mind is shortly after my daughter’s birth. It was that few week period where infants are to eat and be changed roughly every three hours, and she was having trouble breastfeeding. My wife was still recovering from her C-section, we were still in that new parent stage, and still figuring out our daughter’s cues and schedules. I think we all were up every three hours those first few weeks. I remember at some points being so exhausted that even after drinking a cup of coffee that I could still instantly fall asleep. I feel tired just talking about it. We know what it is like to be tired, depleted, and running on empty.
We certainly know physical tiredness: it could be those first few weeks with an infant, how your body feels after working in the hot sun, or the feeling you get after a grueling workout. We can also know mental tiredness, as well. Ever have those times where at the end of the day that it seems your brain doesn’t work? You can think, but it just doesn’t compute. You can read a book or article, and then immediately afterwards say, “What did I just read? I don’t remember a thing!” We can even know emotional fatigue. Ever been drained to the point where you feel numb or have nothing to emotionally give? We might feel that way after a funeral or traumatic event.
There is another tiredness, another weariness, that Scripture clues us in on and that the world utterly misses. As humans, we are comprised of body, mind, AND soul, as a verse like Deuteronomy 6:5 points out. It says, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” We can have a spiritual tiredness as well. Today, we’ll talk about rest, weariness, and hear what Jesus says to the weary: “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Let’s start with the invitation. Jesus gives the invite. He says, “Come to Me!” Luther expands on what Jesus says here in his commentary on Matthew. It is as if Jesus is saying, “Let there be no one who fears or trembles to come; let him come, joyful and without care. I shall not push him away; I shall not drive him back; I shall not cast him down; I shall not heap anguish upon anguish.” In other words, “What are you waiting for? Come!” Come as you are.
As one famous Lenten Hymn puts it: “Come in poverty and meanness/come defiled, without, within/from infection and uncleanness/from the leprosy of sin/….Come, in sorrow and contrition/wounded, impotent, and blind” Jesus says, “Come! Come as you are!” and He means it! Come with your sin. Come with your burdens, heavy hearts, fears, failures, and inadequacies! He won’t turn you away, nor will He send you in the other direction.
So, “Come!” It is a word that does what it says. It both draws and gives the power to come. It draws and moves us to Christ, and at the same time holds out to us all that Jesus has and gives. Jesus gives the invitation: “Come to Me!”
Let’s now move from the invitation to the invited. Who is invited? “All who labor and are heavy laden.” All are invited. No one is left out! Those who labor and are heavy laden are especially invited to come. But, who is that? What does that mean and refer to? The phrase is a metaphor for the difficulties and pressures of life. Last week, we talked all about those. In our lives, we can endure social ruins, physical ruins, emotional ruins, and financial ruin. We can endure anxiety, apprehension, and angst from these things. Our heart can race and flutter. Our stomach can gnaw and nip at us. Our minds can wonder and spiral with questions of “What if, what if.” We know this labor and these burdens.
But there is a spiritual dimension to this as well. It is not strictly physical or earthly weariness that Jesus talks about here. The phrase is also a metaphor for the demands of God’s Law, and the effects it can have on our consciences. In Matthew 23:4, the same terms are used in regards to the Law’s demands. When giving His woes to the Scribes and Pharisees, Jesus says, “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.” Jesus calls them out for adding to God’s commands, making them harder than they already are, and then doing nothing to help!
As Christians, we try to live as best as we can to God’s Word and His Ten Commandments, but it is tough, taxing, and tiring. Satan is great at reminding us of our failures, and putting “salt in the wound,” so to say. He says, “Oh, there you go worrying again, breaking the First Commandment. You do that a lot, don’t you? You don’t really trust.” Or, maybe, “You are one angry person; are you really a Christian?” Our conscience doesn’t help either, as it keeps track of our sin, making us feel inadequate, as a failure, for struggling with this on a daily basis! Our sinful flesh doesn’t help, either. In our Epistle, Paul talks about the plight and struggle of the baptized. He says, “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Can’t you relate to this? When we want to good, evil seems close at hand. Our consciences and hearts can be heavy and burdened. We are heavy laden by the things of this world and life, and by the daily walk of our faith. We need rest! And what does the Inviter say?
The Inviter says, “I will give you rest.” We need rest. God knows that. Was that not the point behind the Old Testament’s Sabbath Day? The Sabbath Day was to give people both physical and spiritual rest. It was a day where they stopped their work and given a chance to worship and hear God’s Word. Our Lord gives us rest, and there is a purpose to it.
Rest is given to restore us. Psalm 23 helps us to see that. There, David says, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me besides still waters. He restores my soul….” In our lives, we get weighed down spiritually. We get burdened and pulled down by our sin. We bear the stresses and worries of providing for ourselves and our families. We know the anxieties and challenges that come with living in the world. But, Jesus gives rest. Jesus restores, and He restores our souls.
We are restored daily through our baptism, where the new man arises each day, restored and renewed by baptismal grace. In the Supper, we are strengthened, and depart His table and head back out into the world with peace and joy. In His Word, our faith is nourished and fed. Our Savior strengthens us for the tasks, trials, and temptations at hand. He silences our troubled minds, and soothes our anxious hearts. He restores our souls. Rest is given to restore us. Rest also helps us to look to His abundance.
Rest helps us to look at God’s abundance rather than our own. Rest turns us from ourselves and directs us to Christ. It helps us to see what we have in Christ and because of Christ. For our God is the God of all mercy and comfort. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” God is the God of grace, peace, strength, joy, and all good gifts. He is the God of goodness and love. As we focused on last week: “He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever!” We get and receive all these things in Jesus and because of Jesus.
Rest also helps us to remember that we are dependent on God. We really are utterly dependent on God for everything in this life. He is the One Who gives us our jobs, home, money, food, entertainment, friends, you name it! He is the One Who brings us to faith, and gives us eternal life and salvation. We contribute nothing! This last week, I saw an example that demonstrates this well.
My daughter was playing in her sand box after one of the heavy rain storms that we had this last week. The cover to the sand box didn’t do a great job in keeping the water out, so most of the sand was wet, cold, and extra heavy. That didn’t bother her at first. She scooped the sand into her bucket, and once it got full and at the top, she tried to pick it up, but she couldn’t. She pulled and pulled and pulled, and it didn’t go up an inch. Frustrated, she looks and says to me, “Help me. You’re stronger.” Not able to ignore that cute call, I came over, and with one hand, easily lifted the bucket with her. “You’re stronger.” Doesn’t that depict our life in Christ?
Jesus says, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” That yoke is easy and that burden is light precisely because He is stronger. He does all the lifting and carrying, and He calls us to come alongside Him as He carries it for us. Jesus takes our sin upon Him, giving us His righteousness and life. Jesus maintains our lives physically with the health, food, family, friends, and home He gives. Jesus maintains our faith lives, bringing us to faith, keeping us in the faith, and strengthening us in the faith. Our faith life is all Him! Jesus provides for us and gives us the rest that we need: the forgiveness of sins which gives rest and peace of mind, body, and soul. All of this, though, then points to the final rest we will have with Him in the new Heaven and new Earth.
Jesus gives the invitation: “Come to Me!” He invites all, especially those who labor and are heavy laden, and He gives rest, true rest. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
