What will you do with Me?

When Jesus said, "Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carrying a heavy burden," our English hardly captures the meaning of weary. What Matthew captured in Greek was along the lines of "Come to Me, all of you who are literally burned out by life and the way that you've been living it." Jesus is calling out to those who are burdened to the point of collapse by the weight of the world, the worries of the world. The term gives the picture of an animal carrying such a load that it is on the verge of collapse or of ship on the verge of sinking.

At the time that He lived, every law that God had handed down had become corrupted and twisted and mangled to the point that it hardly resembled the ten commandments. So burdened by religion were the people of Jesus' day that they needed "rest" for their religious souls. I work with many of the same type of people today. So focused are they on performance that they are exhausted from trying to be "good." Yet, freedom from that type of life is exactly what Jesus wants to bring into your life - rest, deep, abiding, luxurious rest.

The word "rest" as Jesus used it here is the same word used after God was finished creating. It means, literally, "to cause to stop," or "to put an end
to something." The Hebrew Sabbath or shabat are saying the same thing. A relationship with Jesus, which should be a relationship of rest and peace is so
easily corrupted into a religion of doing, striving, and pleasing others.
Do this.
Stop that.
Start this.
Do more and more and more.
If you don't do more God won't be pleased with you.
To be burned out by Christianity is something that should be impossible.

Jesus is saying, "Come to Me, learn from Me, become like Me and I will give you rest. I will bring you a freedom of which the world cannot conceive let alone produce." In the beginning, we were created in the image of God. Sin destroyed that likeness. Jesus came to restore our likeness. Jesus shows us how to turn away from legalism and compliance with rules, rules and more rules. Jesus invites us to walk away from slavery to religion and enter into a Rabbi / disciple relationship with Him. The Gospels give us a clear picture of how Jesus handled stress, interruptions, rejection, abuse, fatigue, etc. etc. Unlike many Christians, Jesus knows that you are more than the sum of your mistakes, more than the total consequences of you sins. He steps into the messy places of your life and invites you into a grace filled relationship, where mercy will be extended to you in a never ending flow leading you straight back to the source of all mercy and love, Jesus Himself.