WhateverThings

Like many of us I enjoy the practice of napping. Sunday afternoons between services are one of my most cherished times. But, naps don’t always go the way that they are supposed to. My daughters are getting older and no longer need naps. On occasion, they will want to lay down next to daddy for a nap. Unfortunately, their idea of a nap and mine are sometimes very different. Mine always involves sleep. Theirs does not. And so, my naps sometimes consist of story-telling, peek-a-boo and the itsy-bitsy spider. On occasions I am surprised that though I have not slept, I am rested – and that seems strange.

Perhaps it is not unlike when Jesus spoke to a crowd and said, “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 11:28-39, NIV) Jesus offers the people rest, but it is not the rest of a nap. He offers them rest where they trade in one yoke for another. A yoke is a wooden frame fitted on an ox’s shoulders to assist in pulling a load. He does not say, “Come to me, and I will take your yoke off and you can run free.” Jesus says he will give us rest, but only as we trade in our old yoke for his which is easy. Why not no yoke at all?

The people Jesus was speaking to understood the reference to the yoke as being God’s commands. To please God, you kept the commands. And as anyone who has tried knows, that is a great burden – to be constantly trying to please God by doing the right thing. It’s a burden because we all fail. Yes, we want to please God, but relying on ourselves alone to please God and always do everything right is a burden none of us can bear. Jesus offers an alternative.

He invites us to follow him, to serve him, to learn from him. Jesus does not ask less of his followers. Read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) if you think Jesus has low standards for his disciples. We are invited to learn from him, not just say we want to follow him but to commit to learning from him. And because at the center of his being Jesus is “gentle and humble”, we find rest when we come to him. Not an absence of labor, but rest because it is not hopeless and meaningless labor. Nor is it a hopeless task to do what is right and pleasing to God. Jesus did it all the time, and he invites us to learn from him, how to live our total lives.

When we are tired of trying to please God on our own, of constantly failing, what we need is rest. And it comes not by taking a nap and giving up but by learning from the one who always pleased His Father. We will find rest, not only in this life but for eternity as we submit ourselves to be servants of Jesus.