the migrant wife

This was shared as a devotional at a women’s brunch meeting in September. I am extremely grateful for all the ladies who spoke into each other’s lives following this sharing.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Now we ought to look at the context of this. Jesus had been speaking about the judgment of the three Galilean cities, Korazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. These cities would face greater judgment than Tyre, Sidon and Sodom, because despite the greater revelation and knowledge they received, they had rejected the Messiah. Interestingly enough, these three cities remain in ruins today. Then Jesus talked about the people the Father is revealed to. The Son chooses people to reveal the Father to. Is this some arbitrary choice of a favoured few? Two invitations follow.

Rephrased, there are two focusses: verse 28, salvation, and verse 29-30 service / discipleship.

1. Salvation.

“Come to me”. That’s the first thing. Come – is to believe, or accept the gift of eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 6:23). To whom? To Jesus, the object of our faith. Our salvation is in a Person. Those who have Jesus are as saved as God can make them.

This invitation is to ALL who are weary (in Greek, tired from toil) and burdened (carrying a heavy load). We were all, in some way, burdened by sin or consequences of sin. This is a burden to us, a heavy load.

Jesus will give us rest. Notice that this REST is a gift. It is unearned and unmerited. Jesus is the one doing the giving. We ought to just receive it.

I remember hearing and accepting Christ the first time. I found true rest, not “earning my way”, not “being the good one”, but knowing that Jesus freely gave me this gift of eternal salvation. I, of course, forget it from time to time and slip into my ways of “legalism”; yet, I had never lost this “rest”. This is a fact because Jesus Himself gave it.

2. Service

Then verse 29-30 the invitation changes from salvation to service/discipleship.

Two actions: Take my yoke upon you, Learn from Me for I am gentle and lowly in heart. 

One of the reasons I don’t think this rest in v 29 means salvation is because we work for it. Jesus meant it to be work – albeit “a light and easy” kind. A yoke is a farming implement for animals, specifically a harness for two animals. We are meant to participate in the work. He wants us to share in the labour, NOT to secure our salvation, as this would contradict the rest of Scripture, but to “find rest” in His goodness. To take Jesus’ yoke upon us means to enter into a life of submission and surrender.

The second reason why I don’t think this means salvation is because we are instructed to learn and imitate Jesus, to find this rest. Jesus doesn’t say, only the people who have learned sufficiently and have a certain level of Christian character can be sure to enter heaven. No, God says in John 3:16, For God so loved the world He sent His only son so that whoever believes in Him may not die but have eternal life; the robber crucified next to Jesus in Luke 23 had not time to learn from Him nor imitate His gentle and lowly nature but in those dying breaths trusted in Him and was promised entrance into His presence in Paradise; Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast…

Instead, we find our here it is not the rest of conscience of sins forgiven, but the rest of heart that is found by taking the lowest place before God and man. It is the rest that one experiences in the service of Christ when we stop trying to be great. Please don’t misunderstand, I am not saying that once we are saved we can do whatever we want, whenever we want, because we are saved anyway. I am not saying that. I am saying that once we are saved, we are freed to do good (Ephesians 2 talks about this as well – we are saved not by works, but saved to do good works).  

The call to take His yoke is a call to labour with Him.

This is a call to radical, humble discipleship among those whom He has saved.

I know many ladies who are extremely busy. Children with hungry tummies. Husbands to serve. Projects with deadlines to meet. Bosses to please. Houses to clean. Groceries to pick up. Parents to call. Family to take care of. Jobs to apply for. Ministry to plan. Books to read. Lists to write. Budgets to stick to. We are busy, we forget we can have the light and easy yoke. I do that too.

In fact, about two weeks ago I had shingles. It knocked the stuffing out of me. Yet I did not know how to rest. I got up to go do stuff, do the shopping, hoover the flat… about everything I was not meant to be doing. (Meanwhile Paul going, stop Charlie it’s not funny anymore) As I grew more and more tired by the days and shingles still there – I began to reflect, I really don’t know how to rest. I was too proud to rest. In fact, I wanted to be known as the woman who could do everything! However, it takes a certain Christ-like humility and gentleness to find that rest we are looking for. It doesn’t come easily to us. Rest doesn’t come when you’re on top of the world, when you’re a ministry leader, when you become a line manager, when your children have grown up and left home for uni or work. Rest doesn’t come when you have sorted out everything and you get a pat on the back for doing a great job. Rest doesn’t even come from seeing your friend become Christian, or when you’re in the jungle bringing God’s word to tribes, or No, Rest comes from Christ-like gentleness and lowliness. It comes from serving in a Christ-like manner. It comes from a surrendered life.

Anyway, I will just leave you with these questions:

1. How have you found rest in your salvation?
2. How have you found rest in your service?
3. Is there a part of your life that you could surrender, and take up Jesus’ easy yoke and light burden?