The Rest | Matthew 11
Matthew 11
Please comment below with your conversation with God and/or insights from today’s Scriptures.
You can answer the following:
What’s your first impressions about this chapter?
Consider John the Baptist predicament, what are your thoughts about him being in Jail for preaching?
When considering the rest that Jesus speaks about, what rest has Jesus given to you?
What is your prayer to God brought on by this chapter?
Don’t forget to join us Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7pm on FB.com/waterschurchnyc. Join the conversation about the Scriptures and topic at hand.
Chapter Notables:
John is recorded as being in prison and what Jesus’ thoughts about him - verses 1-19
Jesus warns towns about the need for repentance - verses 20-24
Jesus invites people to come to Him - verses 25-30
The Rest Is History | Lemuel Ayudtud
We just need to rest sometimes, right? The best way to deal with frustration, anger, hurt, and just bad perceptions sometimes is a good rest.
In the beginning, God rested on the seventh day. In fact, a day of rest was a matter of law during the days of Moses (even now in the Jewish circles). Gentiles (non-Jews) may not have that same law, but we all know that we need some form of rest.
You know what? Science agrees. Inc. the magazine had an article about the science behind the benefits of rest.
Rest …
reduces stress
reduces inflammation and risk of heart disease
boosts the immune system
adds years to your life
restores mental energy
makes you more creative
increases productivity
helps you focus better
improves short term memory
makes you enjoy work and people better
It’s no wonder why God incorporated rest into the 10 Commandments. For most people the 10 Commandments are just a bunch of dos and don’ts, but in reality, especially in regards to rest, it’s there to extend your life and help you enjoy living with people. Sure, we should work as hard as possible, but resting will enable us to find our strength to continue working. Brain power is restored and zest for life can be renewed. You just may treat other people better with some rest. (Some people can be grumpy because they haven’t had rest in a while.)
When most people think of rest it’s about sleep, naps, or vacation. Maybe it’s just not doing anything for a period of time. Sure that is an outlet for rest, but there are struggles that require more than physical or even mental distancing from things. There are some struggles that cannot be addressed by vacationing or sleep. There are heart-weighing struggles that no matter where one maybe, it won’t change.
And these struggles are not uncommon. In fact, I dare say, these types of struggles are replete in our society. Some of the seemingly happiest and funniest people deal with this. There are people that are seemingly loved by people whose hearts and minds are suffering from internal tiredness that no one can address and no medication can cure. There are some people who seem to have the resources to resolve some of their issues, yet they are under clouds of darkness because there’s no rest to be found in their sorrow.
Matthew opens the chapter with Jesus hanging out in Galilee, His old stomping grounds, preaching and teaching people, then proceeds to mention John being in prison. (Must have been very popular conversation in that area, having been from there.) Matthew in this chapter shares the story of John the Baptist. Not telling us what happened (we find that out in a different book), the writer tells us that John was questioning if Jesus is the Messiah. John sent his disciples to Jesus asking Him to confirm whether or not “He was the One or should [he] look for another?” Must like a broken man who’s faced with his last days wanting to know if what he lived his life for was actually a farce, John was questioning his life’s choice to celebrate Jesus as he proclaimed him to be, the Lamb of God.
Then Matthew continued to write about the directive of Jesus for cities and towns to repent; comparing them judged cities like Sodom and Gomorrah. Matthew was pretty much casting a bad look at these cities and how they were receiving Jesus’ ministry. And though the language was harsh and heavy, Matthew flips the conversation by closing this portion of the Scripture with Jesus calling for people to “Come to me.” Who should come to Jesus? Those who were weary, those who were burdened.
When we study the Greek words used by the writer we can understand that he was speaking of the those who were tired and exhausted, burden or grieved. He was speaking about those who were physically exhausted. Yup, burdens that people carry that make them feel it in their bones and muscles. When we read deeper into “heavy ladened” the Greek word means those who has had burdened placed on them. Consider it: it’s for those who carry burdens that others have placed on them: expectations, reputations, that other people, even society, has dumped on them.
How heavy can some of those burdens be? Do you experience them? Have you faced these types of burdens? You know what? No matter how heavy or how rampant, there is no one in the world that have not experienced them at one point or another. Of course, bowed down are the shoulders of those who carry these things daily.
I think Matthew opened with John, then gave way to these “doomed” cities yet ended with Jesus talking about rest because: the truth is life is going to make you face things you don’t expect. Sometimes you’ll make bad decisions and those decisions can put you in a place where you have no recourse in mind. Sometimes even death itself looks appealing.
The chapter gives to us not a rest found in a day or in a getaway. It doesn’t offer to us a rest that is found in a calendar or in a setting. It’s not a rest that can be found in sleep or a power nap. It’s even a rest that is beyond the buzz and the illusions of drugs.
The rest that Jesus gives is of Himself. He is the Rest. When you have Him burdens are unloaded, cares are released, weariness is relieved, clouded minds are cleared. If we can take Him and rest in Him, He will bring to us a rest we’ve never experienced and a joy we cannot contain. To Him, true rest is His story
Lord, help me to rest in You. In fact, help me to just allow You to be my rest. Teach me to call on Your Name in the middle of trouble. In heart aches, hardships, and discomfort, help me to trade my sorrow for Your peace, my burdens for Your joy. In Your Name, Jesus, I pray, amen.
