The Burden of Christ

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

A few weekends ago I was heading up to our family cabin for some much needed holiday time. Something that I often struggle with is rest. Whenever I sit down to rest and relax, my mind fills with things that I have left undone. Often, I will jump up to go and do all the things – as if they all have to be done and complete, everything perfect, before I am able to rest. I am familiar with this struggle in myself . . . and so, I spent some time praying and asking God for help! I asked Him to lead me into rest with Him. As I was praying this, Matthew 11:28 came into my head. I grabbed my Bible and turned there. I read the rest of the chapter and I was struck with what was said there. We often only read or quote verse 28, leaving the rest out. Why is that?

“Adulting”, expectations, having the most aesthetic and exciting social media, daily life responsibilities, owning the newest and best things, constant achievements in education or business advancements, and indulging in sin and experiencing its many consequences . . . the burdens of the world are endless. If we let pursuing worldly things become a top priority and if we think on all of the pressures out there, it will overwhelm and continue to weigh heavier on us by the day. As Christians, the moment we feel overwhelmed, we should do as Matthew 11 says and turn to Jesus for rest. This verse is often quoted in difficult and heavy seasons of life as a reminder and encouragement that we can come to Jesus. What a great reminder that is! But, often we quote verse 28 and then stop. Why? Because it’s what we want to hear. After all, verse 28 is beautiful and encouraging, and a great reminder that I often need . . . “Come to Jesus.” But, it’s only part of the story. Verse 29 and 30 go hand in hand with verse 28 – making verse 28 more powerful in its context. These verses are not what we want to hear, rather what we need to hear as we journey with Jesus.

The thing that most surprised me from this passage is that resting doesn’t mean that we have no burdens, but that Christ also has a burden. Yup. Go back and read those verses again. Are you seeing what I’m seeing?! Jesus says that His yoke is easy and HIS BURDEN is light. For some reason, I have never noticed that before and as a result have been believing (falsely) that if I come to Jesus there will be no burdens. In Matthew 11 Jesus is still saying that we should come to Him if we are burdened with the world. But, contrary to popular belief (or maybe just what I was believing . . . ) He won’t take away our burdens and make them disappear, but He will give us rest for our souls by giving us a new burden. His burden. That’s what the verse says! What then, is the burden of Christ? I think Jesus puts it perfectly here:

“Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me.”

Matthew 16:24

Taking the burden of being a disciple of Christ on us is what rids us of the worldly burden. You see, the burden of Christ is to deny everything self seeking and to choose to follow Jesus’ way over our own way. The burden of the world is an endless pursuit of the pleasures that satisfy and please the self. Depending on which way you choose to live your life will be the burden that is on you. When we pursue the things of the world we are carrying the burden of that on our own. But the good promise of Jesus in Matthew 11 is that His burden is light because we don’t carry it alone. He says: “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” A yoke is a wooden beam that is normally used between two oxen to help them to pull the load together. I mean, obviously before this, I didn’t know a whole lot about yokes or oxen. In my head the yoke was fastened onto one oxen to carry the load – but the spiritual significance of the two oxen shows us that Christ stands with us, side by side and helps us carry the load. That is so beautiful!

When we follow Jesus’ command to deny ourselves and take up our cross to follow Him, we can know that He has done that first, and He has prepared the way. He denied Himself and took up His cross. He goes ahead of us as well as beside us and behind us. When we pursue the way of Christ there is rest because in Him there is true rest for our souls. That’s what happened when Jesus paid the price on the cross. Following the way of the world makes us restless because it’s an unending, unfulfilling journey with no point to ‘reach’ for satisfaction. There is always something new to buy, accomplish, achieve, and do. But, with the burden of following Jesus there is rest because, once you’ve accepted Christ, you’ve reached it. That’s it! No striving, buying, accomplishing or achieving. Welcome to eternity with Him.

Christ’s burden. Christ’s burden. Christ’s burden. We must not be afraid to call it like it is! Why? That doesn’t sound like a phrase we are jumping to preach from the pulpits! Well, we should say it because scripture says it and its Words are His Words. But, carrying Christ’s burden sounds so uncomfortable! It is. But when was Jesus ever comfortable? The road to the cross was the opposite of fluffy pillows, a good book and a cup of coffee on a rainy day! Following Jesus is uncomfortable and it comes with the burden of denying ourselves and taking up our cross to follow His Way. This passage in Matthew 11 was a great reminder to me to stop reading scripture to hear what I want to hear, and to stop settling for the comfortable ‘ideas’. Let’s be people of God who ask Him to open our ears and hearts to the Truth – no matter how uncomfortable or challenging it is. As we know, life with God is never meant to be easy. But, it is meant to be good and wonderful and full of joy.

So, come to Jesus. Listen and learn from Him. Take up His burden, which He will help you carry. And in this, you will find rest for your soul.

Written by: Justine Joy