Category Archives: Rest for the weary and burdened

Rest for the weary – forgiveness illustrated

Posted on December 30, 2009 | Leave a comment

In 1984 a woman called Jennifer Thompson was attacked.  She later identified the man she thought was responsible. This man, Ronald Cotton, maintained he was innocent but was sent to prison because of her testimony. He remained there for 11 years, until DNA evidence proved he was innocent, and another man was convicted of the crime. For two years after Ronald Cotton was released, Jennifer Thompson felt ashamed. She thought, how could I have made such a mistake? I’ve taken away 11 years of this man’s life. She was the same age as Ronald Cotton, so she knew what he had missed during  those 11 years. She had married, graduated from college, worked and become a parent. Ronald Cotton had not been able to do any of these. For two years she felt weighed down, until she finally knew what she had to do.

A few weeks later she got in a car and drove to a church where she met Ronald Cotton and spoke to him face to face. She said to him If I spent the rest of my life saying how sorry I am, it wouldn’t come close to how I feel. Ronald Cotton was calm and quiet, the finally he spoke. I’m not mad at you, he said softly, I just want you to have a good life. For two hours they talked while their families waited nervously outside. Afterwards in the car park while their two families watched. Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson embraced.

Ronald Cotton later described how in prison he found out who’d really committed the crime, and he hated that man. He made a plan to kill him, until someone encouraged him to turn to Jesus. In Jesus Ronald Cotton found the one who could release the burden of anger and bitterness pressing down on him. Having received in Jesus the gift of forgiveness he needed, Ronald Cottone was able to give Jennifer Thompson the gift of forgiveness when she asked him.

The newspaper that reported this story carried a picture of the two of them sitting on a bench together, with the sort of smiles that could not be faked, the smiles of people at peace with one another, and at peace with themselves, free from the burdens of anger and guilt that had weighed them down.

Jesus invites us too, to come to him, to learn from him, and find our rest in him. Forgiving those who’ve wronged you can be extremely difficult. In fact true forgiveness is impossible without God. It is only through experiencing the grace that Jesus offers that we are able to then show grace to others.

(Other posts on Matthew 11:28-30: Part 1 Rest for the weary, Part 2 How is Jesus’ yoke easy? )

References: The above story is from Unpacking Forgiveness, Chris Brauns. It is also told in Picking Cotton by Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton.

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Posted in Forgiveness, Matthew 11:28-30, Rest for the weary and burdened

How is Jesus’ yoke easy?

Posted on December 29, 2009 | Leave a comment

Jesus says: 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 11:29-30)

The idea of taking a yoke on you, sounds oppressive. Until we realise there’s a sense in which all of us are already yoked to something. All of us take good gifts from God, and live as though those things, rather than God are ultimate things. We can yoke ourselves to money or success, or the opinions of others, or a relationship or even to our family as if any of these are the most important thing in life. None of these can bear the weight of expectation we put on them. Coming to Jesus means making him our first priority, being willing to submit to him and learn from him, recognising that he knows us better than we know ourselves, he knows what is best for us.

Being a Christian can often be hard. How is Jesus’ yoke easy? It’s easy in the sense that he’s already done all that is needed to make us right with God. It’s easy in the sense that Jesus will give us the power to do whatever he wants us to do. It’s easy in the sense that there’s a joy that comes from serving Jesus as you grasp all he’s done for you, and as you realise you are now doing what you were made for. It’s easy because Jesus is gentle and humble. He’s not a tyrant who hates those who serve him. He humbled himself to be born as a human. He humbled himself to die for all who would turn and trust in him, those who would be willing to yoke themselves to him and learn from him. It is in coming to Jesus and being willing to learn from him, that our souls find the true rest that we long for.

(Other posts on Matthew 11:28-30: Part 1 Rest for the weary and burdened, Part 3 Rest for the weary – forgiveness illustrated  )

References: God is better than all

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Posted in Matthew 11:28-30, Rest for the weary and burdened

Rest for the weary and burdened

Posted on December 29, 2009 | Leave a comment

When Jesus says ‘ Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11:28) he identifies a problem we all have. Greater than the physical weariness we all experience at times is our need for ‘spiritual’ rest. What are some of the things that weigh us down?

a) Religious rules. Jesus said The teachers of the law and the Pharisees…tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders… (Matthew 23: 2-4). The religious leaders of Jesus’ day added regulations to God’s word that neither they nor the people could keep. Religions all over the world today leave people with the same sense of weariness. Perhaps you’ve had a religious background and can identify with the weariness and burdens of religious regulations.

b) Guilt.  While it is possible to feel a false sense of guilt about things that are not necessarily wrong, there is also real guilt – feeling rightly ashamed of past actions. We all have a sense of right and wrong. None of us live up to even our own standards or ethics, let alone God’s law.  There are actions and thoughts we are right to feel ashamed of. You may be carrying around a burden of guilt, that you can’t get out of your mind, and it’s making you weary.

c) Anger / Bitterness. All of us have been hurt by others, sometimes in devastating ways. Those hurts can keep coming back and youfind your mind replaying them over and over. You may find yourself fantasising about ways to get even, or imagining bad things happening to the person who hurt you. One man who’d suffered terribly said the anger and bitterness had gone on for so long inside him, that if you were to lick his heart, it would poison you. His heart had become hardened, weary and burdened by his own anger and bitterness.

d) Anxiety. In a similar way it’s easy to become weary and burdened through anxiety. Your mind keeps coming back to concerns you have about your finances or your health, or relationship problems. You can’t get them out of your mind, and it’s making you weary and burdened.

e) Desire to prove yourself. Often we’re weary because we are simply doing too much. We find it hard to say no to things. If we’re honest we’re often just trying to prove ourselves –to others at work, or to family or friends. There’s a restlessness inside of us that makes us weary and burdened as we fill our lives with all this activity that still leaves us spiritually weary and burdened.

In claiming to be the one who can provide us with spiritual rest, Jesus is claiming to be God. In the Old Testament David said: My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.  (Psalm 62:1). Jesus calls us not just to come to God for rest, but to come to him – he is God. He is inviting us to come to him - to pray to him, to get to know him through God’s word, to put our trust in his death and resurrection as being for us, to get to know God the Father intimately through him.

It’s in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that our soul finds rest from the religion we can never do, from the guilt we can never change, from the anger we can never stop, from the anxiety we can never get rid of, and from the desire to prove ourselves. You won’t have to prove yourself to anyone if you come to Jesus and trust in what he has done. Through his life and his death, he has done all that is needed for you to be made right with God.

Come to me Jesus says, and I will give you rest.

(Other posts on Matthew 11:28-30:  Part 2 How is Jesus’ yoke easy?  , Part 3 Rest for the weary – forgiveness illustrated  )

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Posted in Matthew 11:28-30, Rest for the weary and burdened, Sermon Summaries