Closer To Heaven
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Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.
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Like all of us, Jesus never spoke without a context. In order to understand Him, we need to grasp the specific context surrounding a particular statement, especially if we want to avoid misunderstanding Jesus.
Image © Rolf Jansson from GoodSalt.com
Matthew 11 marks a turning point in Matthew’s Gospel. The statements denouncing important Galilean cities are the harshest heard so far in the Gospel. Jesus does not curry favors; He puts the finger where it hurts; He associates with the “wrong” people (Matthew 9:9-13); His claim to be able to forgive sins is scandalous in the eyes of the religious leaders (Matthew 9:1-8).
Indeed, Jesus speaks some powerfully condemning words to the people, even comparing them, unfavorably, to Sodom, viewed then (as today) as a place of implacable wickedness. “But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you” (Matthew 11:24).
Tensions are rising — and yet, in the midst of all of this, Jesus changes gear and offers true rest. He can do so because “all things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father” (Matthew 11:27). Jesus’ ability to give rest is based on His divinity and His oneness with the Father.
Before we can come to unload our burdens, we need to understand that we cannot carry them alone. In fact, most of us will not come unless we have recognized our true condition. Jesus’ invitation is need-based.
His statement in Matthew 11:28 begins with an imperative in the Greek original. “Come” is not optional; “come” represents the precondition of finding rest. “Come” means that we need to surrender control. In a time when we can conveniently control many things in our lives via our smartphones, coming to Jesus is not the natural direction. In fact, for most people, surrender is the toughest part of the Christian life.
We love to talk, and rightly so, about all that God does for us in Christ and how we cannot save ourselves and the like. All that is true. But in the end, we still have to make the conscious choice to “come” to Jesus, which means surrender to Him. Here is where the reality of free will becomes front and center in the Christian life.
| What burdens are you carrying? How can you learn to give them to Jesus and experience the rest He offers, and at so great a cost to Himself? |
(0)The post Sunday: “I Will Give You Rest” first appeared on Sabbath School Net.
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by Raj Attiken | 23 July 2021 | Two churches I am very familiar with, each with its own junior academy, decided to merge their schools following long and serious consultations. To avoid the appearance of one school shutting down and sending its students to the other (which might have been perceived as a “win-lose” […] Source: https://atoday.org/are-leaders-sometimes-the-problem/
23 July 2021 | Students at Riverside, California-based La Sierra University are growing produce in a shipping container using hydroponic farming. Hydroponic farming involves growing plants in nutrient-rich water instead of soil and uses artificial light instead of sunlight. This form of farming uses dramatically less water than traditional farming as the water can be […] Source: https://atoday.org/la-sierra-university-students-experiment-with-hydroponic-farming-in-shipping-container/
Image © Pacific Press
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
What a wonderful promise we have been given here by Jesus. After all, who among us at times hasn’t felt heavy-laden, if not so much with work itself (though that can often be the case) but with the labor and heavy-ladenness that life itself brings? And Jesus here is telling us that, yes, He knows what we are going through, and yes, He can help us — that is, if we let Him.
And then, after telling us to bear His yoke, Jesus says, “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). In other words, Get rid of the yokes and burdens that you are carrying (give them to Me) and take Mine upon yourself instead, for Mine are easier to bear.
How can we experience the rest that Jesus is talking about? After all, we live in a world where, after sin, the Lord said to Adam “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread” (Genesis 3:19). Thus, we have known what it is like to labor and to be carrying burdens that can seem way too hard to bear, at least by ourselves alone.
(0)The post Sabbath: “Come to Me. . .” first appeared on Sabbath School Net.
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