The other day, I was listening to a song with the simple title, “Come!” Have you ever been at one of those points in life when you feel like you’re carrying a greater load than you can manage? You feel like you can’t multitask at a fast enough pace to meet the demands of life. Jesus issues an invitation recorded in several passages of the New Testament. His message is this:
“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, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
The song I was listening to uses the text of verses such as this from the Bible where Jesus lays out the invitation and challenge, “Come!” I’ve known these passages for years, but for some reason, those words along with the musical setting made quite an impression on me as to how clear and simple and all-encompassing the invitation is.
This invitation from Jesus is for those who labor and are burdened down. It is for those who are thirsty to experience real life. It is for those who feel like everything is just too hard. Maybe we would use the expression “I’m stressed out.” Does that sound like anyone you know, maybe even yourself? Look at what Jesus says in another place:
“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’” John 7:37-38
Who is Jesus that he can make such promises? The Bible tells us that Jesus is the creator of the universe. He is God and the Messiah. He has all authority in heaven and earth. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. In other words, it is God himself who is inviting anyone who is weary, burdened, or desperate to really live and to be free from the weight that comes with life, to come to him. God is the source of everything that is good, and he invites each one of us to come to him for relief. In fact, the verse we just quoted promises that whoever believes in Jesus will have rivers of living water flowing from them. Jesus later explained that he was talking about the Spirit of God himself who will come and live in us and be that living water.
Look at what Revelation 22:17 says, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.” To me, this is an amazing reality to grasp. Jesus calls out with a loud voice, “Come!” The Holy Spirit calls out, “Come!” The bride (which is the church) says, “Come!” And those who hear are so excited that they start yelling, “Come! Come! It’s true! Whoever wants to can come and drink of the water of life freely.”
At the beginning of Revelation 22, just before the invitation to come, Jesus says, “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
When Jesus comes back again, he will give to each person according to what he or she has done. The problem is that we haven’t done so well. The Bible says no one is good and no one seeks God. Every one of us has sinned and broken God’s law. What Jesus shouted at that festival was that the rivers of living water would flow in those who believe on him. Believing is the key. It’s not just believing in something, as in “I believe for every drop of rain that falls a flower grows.” That kind of belief accomplishes nothing. Believing in Jesus means believing that he is who he said he is, that his promises are true, that his death on the cross really did pay the full penalty of all of our sins, and that he actually did come to life again three days after he died, and is now in heaven at the right hand of God, and that he is now the ruler and judge of the universe. Believing is not just saying you believe these things; it is actually believing them!
It’s that same Jesus who says, “If you are weary and burdened down, and if you desire to have all your sins, failures, and shame forgiven forever, come to me. I will forgive you and begin to restore you to the person I created you to be.” Believing this is what it means to come.
So, what did he say? He said, “Take my yoke upon you.” A yoke is the thing that joins two oxen together so that they can plow together. Jesus said we should take his yoke because his yoke is easy. It’s not a hard, difficult pull. I take it to mean that he carries the bulk of the load for us. In another place in the Bible Jesus says, “Throw your cares on me, because I care for you.” (1 Peter 5:7) He’s not only saying that he cares about us, he is saying that he’ll do the caring instead of us having to it ourselves.
The other thing that Jesus said in Matthew 11 is that we should learn from him. We take his yoke, and we learn. What do we learn? We learn how to live life God’s way, with Jesus as our yokefellow and his word as our teacher. His word is what we read in the Bible. What is Jesus’ promise? You will find rest for your souls. You will have rivers of living water, i.e., the Holy Spirit, living within. We believe, take his yoke, and learn from him. The result? Rest for our soul. This is the best news anyone could ever hear!
Jesus, the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, the creator and king of the universe invites you to come. You will find in him all you truly need to face the ups and downs of life successfully. He does not promise that all your problems will go away; but he does promise to be there, helping you and guiding you each step of the way. Come!
In case you were wondering, the song that got me thinking about this is called “The Spirit and the Bride” sung by Joshua Aaron. It’s partly in Hebrew so turn on the closed captioning. https://youtu.be/W5BFmx7SdOY?si=cMscb_jR8fYyTF35