Years ago, Henry Drummond, geologist & writer, had a meal with the evangelist, D.L.Moody. “Moody, he said, I’m going to show you how most Christians live, and my dog is going to help me.” Drummond then took a plate, which contained a large joint of meat, off the table and laid it down in front of the dog. The dog looked at it, then at his master and then at the joint again. His ears went down, his tail tucked in, and he went and lay in his basket. Henry Drummond picked up the plate, looked at Moody and said, “There you are, he didn’t believe it could be that good!”

Perhaps you feel that the words of Jesus that we’ve just heard read are just ‘too good to be true’. So let us pay attention to them. Matthew first lets us overhear Jesus praying to his Father. Jesus praises him for something we need to know ourselves. That we cannot know God through human wisdom and learning – for God hides himself before human pride and self-sufficiency – but he is ready to be found by those who know their inability, seek him with all their hearts and –in a word – are as little children before him, with empty, open hands.

A two-fold Relationship:

Now Jesus speaks to those around him, perhaps eager to hear how they might know God with the intimacy this man does. For there, in that place, even prayer cannot be said aloud in privacy – but others will overhear. And now Jesus utters astonishing words. No greater claim has ever been heard from human lips. They challenge us. Will we accept their truth and put our trust in this man? Or will we turn away, call him blasphemer or madman? For he makes a two-fold claim about his relationship with God himself.

He calls God his Father, and himself his Son, in such a way that his enemies recognise is a claim to deity. Moreover, Jesus says, this means that no-one knows who he really is, except his Father. We can read the Gospels – and know all that has been written about him – but not know Jesus for ourselves. And even when we’ve opened our hearts and lives to him, and learned to love him – we’ve only begun to know him. There is a mystery about his Person that no man can fathom, but only bow before.

And, says Jesus, only he truly, really knows the Father, and only he can reveal Him to us. We are reminded of Jesus’ words, No-one comes to the Father except through me… anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. (John 14:6,9) If we would know him too – then we must, as it were, sit at Jesus’ feet – or rather, see in Jesus’ very life and death – the character of the one only, true God.

In Jesus we see God’s compassion and love reaching out to all, as he touches and heals the untouchable, ministers to the outcast and widow, the deformed and the despised – despite the dismay and contempt of the proud and self-assured. And we see God’s holiness in Jesus’ anger and searing words to those who draw their robes aside from the poor and needy; whose religion is hypocrisy, and who will not see God at work through Jesus – wanting only to be rid of him. This then is the only true Saviour of the world, whose words we should be able to trust. And now he issues an invitation to us, which we must hear – and we must respond to.

A two-fold Description:

Jesus invites people he describes in a two-fold way – as the weary and the burdened. Who are they? The weary are those who have done laborious toil, who are tired and worn out. Perhaps you don’t feel that describes you. But aren’t there aspects of life we all find distasteful? Duties and responsibilities we can’t avoid. Stressful relationships we can’t end. Situations and circumstances always with us, sapping energy and depressing our spirits. Maybe we fantasize about how life would be “if only… these things were not there… if only at some stage we’d made other choices…”

Like Tevye (in Fiddler on the Roof) we complain “if I were a rich man…” – but that is not our lot! And it’s not the answer! Raquel Welch, the actress, once confessed, I’ve acquired everything I’ve wanted. Yet I’m totally miserable. I think it very peculiar that one can acquire wealth, fame and accomplishment in one’s career – beautiful children, a life-style that seems terrific – and yet be totally and miserably unhappy. Jesus knows how it is with us – and he knows what we need is not escape from our circumstances – but a relationship with him that can transform them all.

Then there are the burdens – something we carry because loaded onto our shoulders. What have I in mind? The burden of loss, for example. Loss of employment. Loss of health, loss of a loved one... there are many losses. Aristotle Onassis, the Greek shipping magnate, developed a rare, incurable disease that forced him to use bandages to keep his eyelids from drooping. He also battled depression when his adult son died in a plane crash. I am the richest man in the world, yet I couldn’t save my son from dying, any more than I can save myself from this disease. It feels so hopeless.

Then there is the burden of fear – fear of such loss happening – fear of what is taking place in the world – fear of other people… For many there is the burden of addiction – of alcohol or drugs – of pornography and other destructive obsessions. And there is the burden of the past – expectations laid upon us by parents – grudges and unforgiveness towards those who’ve hurt us – or regrets and guilt we carry for what we’ve done.

All of these burdens can crush us, as we shoulder them alone. But we’ve no need to be alone in our pain. There is one who has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows – and by his wounds we may be healed. (Isa 53:4,5)

A two-fold Invitation:

What then is the invitation Jesus gives us? This also is two-fold: Come to me… and take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am gentle and humble in heart. Yokes are familiar to an agricultural society. The metaphor of submitting to a yoke was familiar in Israel. You did so when you took on for yourself the religious obligations of the Law, whether at a boy’s Bar Mitzvah, or as a proselyte. Jesus understood how heavy these obligations had been made by the Scribes – which is why he emphasizes that his yoke is easy and his burden light. An easy yoke would be one that was well-fitting, comfortable, one that didn’t chafe. Perhaps, when he was a carpenter, that was how Jesus advertised his yokes!

What does a yoke do? It joins two oxen, so that together they can pull the load or plough a field – so the burden is shared. Take my yoke upon you… Jesus invites us to share in his work, to be in harness with him. Not to have to act alone, but pull with him, learning too, every step of the way, to rely on his strength and wisdom.

So Jesus says, Come to Me. We shall not find help for our weariness or burden anywhere else. As St Augustine said, You have made us for Yourself, and our heart is restless till it finds its rest in You. (Isa 57:20; Psa 62:1,5; Jer 6:16) Our world is replete with other invitations, and other remedies. And these voices do their utmost to drown out Jesus’ voice of love – and the most wonderful invitation of all. As Jesus said to the woman at the well, Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst (John 4:13).

But you may ask, How do I come? Where do I go?

Can you sense and understand the love Jesus has for you? Have you seen that love in what Jesus did? In the way he touched lives then? Above all, in his dying for you – that you might be unburdened and receive life in all its fulness? (John 10:10) Know that now, by his Spirit, Jesus is near us everywhere.(Acts 17:27) Therefore we may trust him, and commit ourselves to him, right here and now.

St Augustine once said, To Him who is everywhere men come, not by travelling, but by loving. If we’ve come to love Jesus, we need simply ask him to receive us. And he promises, Whoever comes to me, I will never drive away. (John 6:37) Ask him to be able to love what he loves, to love him in serving others, to love him as Lord and King. In this way, we shall find he carries our sorrows and makes light our burdens.

A two-fold Rest:

For Jesus promises us a two-fold rest. I will give you rest… and you will find rest for your souls. He alone can give it – and we, who are weary of finding it elsewhere, will find it if we come to Him. This word rest – it’s the word used for the Sabbath rest, when we cease from our labour, and turn in worship to the Lord of heaven and earth. But Jesus isn’t speaking of physical rest, but of rest for your souls. For those caught up in the treadmill of expectations and duties, laid down as the only way to earn God’s favour – there is rest in Jesus. For he reconciles us to God as a free gift, which we cannot earn.

For those burdened by the past – he cleanses, removing all guilt and shame. For those burdened by present loss or future fears – he embraces with the arms of a loving God, who takes us forever as his sons and daughters – for whom the future is assured, and the present is an inseparable companionship. (Rom 8:28-39)

For those under the power of an addiction – he offers the redeeming and liberating power of his Spirit. Let me give you the account of one such man. Hsi was a newly converted Confucian scholar – but also a long-established opium addict. Immediately, he knew this habit must be broken. But the conflict, as he abstained, was overwhelming – physically, emotionally, and above all, spiritually, as the enemy sought to win him back. No amount of medicines or prayer seemed to help.

Hsi prayed and clung to Christ, and cried out repeatedly, Devil, what can you do against me? My life is in the hand of God. I am truly willing to break off opium and die, but not willing to continue in sin and live! At last convinced from his Bible reading that only the Holy Spirit could deliver him, he cried to God for this gift. Suddenly this was given him – and with Him, freedom and peace. Hsi said, He did what man and medicine could not do. From that moment my body was perfectly at rest. To break off opium without real faith in Jesus would indeed be impossible.

Clearly the rest Jesus gives is not passivity, nor inactivity. It is the peace of finding that living for our Lord – is working for a Master who loves and cares for us. Unlike our enemy, whose service is bitter bondage, our Lord satisfies our heart with many blessings. In fact, we may be involved in hard work, and called to unbroken conflict in his service – but he gives us the only real rest that there is. We are built up and affirmed, and our lives find meaning and purpose in his service. And in the struggles of life, he refines us, and transforms us into his likeness.

Moses, facing all his doubts after the incident of the golden calf, asked the Lord to reassure him, and received the promise, My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. (Exod 33:14) In the years that followed, Moses found this a reality, despite his own failure – so when at the end of his life, he blessed each tribe, he gave this blessing to Benjamin, Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders. (Deut 33:12)

It remains therefore to each of us to be sure of our coming to our Lord Jesus Christ in response to his invitation, and yoked with him, learn from him, day by day, the greatness of his love and power.

The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews was anxious that his readers should not be like those rescued from slavery in Egypt who yet failed to enter the Promised Land, because they rebelled and wouldn’t trust the Lord. God had said of them, They shall never enter my rest – meaning not just Palestine, but that everlasting rest in his presence, from which unbelievers are excluded. That Promised Land is reserved for all of us who really trust in him. (Heb 4:1-11)

Does that perspective colour your lives, change your hopes and fears? Is death for you a glorious gateway into Life – or a darkness you shrink from? Is this present life for you a race to be run single-mindedly, with your eyes on Jesus? (Heb 12:1-3)

Fifty years ago five missionaries made headlines throughout the Christian world. They had sought to reach a remote, unreached tribe in the jungle of Ecuador. They made gradual contact by air, until the day they could actually land there. When that day came, all five were martyred. Before this was known, during five days of terrible uncertainty, Betty, one of the wives wrote, I have no idea what I will do if Jim is dead, but the Lord knows and I am at rest. The calm and peace of all the wives was a great testimony to others there. They held an impromptu service of thanksgiving, thankful for the faithfulness of their men. Then Betty sang the hymn that the men had sung before they’d left. (Can we make it our song, too?)

We rest on Thee, our Shield and our Defender,

We go not forth alone against the foe.

Strong in Thy Strength, safe in Thy keeping tender,

We rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go.

Yes, in Thy name, O Captain of salvation!

In Thy name, all other names above;

Jesus our righteousness, our sure foundation,

Our Prince of Glory and our King of Love.

We go in faith, our own great weakness feeling,

And needing more each day Thy grace to know,

Yet from our hearts a song of triumph pealing,

We rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go.

We rest on Thee, our Shield and our Defender!

Thine is the battle, Thine shall be the praise,

When passing through the gates of pearly splendour,

Victors, we rest with Thee, through endless days.