The Hard Work of Rest
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. - Matthew 11:28-30
Have you ever felt weary? I imagine that is a silly question for most of you reading this, especially if you’re reading this in 2020. Mounds of research tell us most people feel burdened by life. For some, being tired is a lifestyle. That’s why I get to do my work as a counselor. Every client who comes to me feels weary about some aspect of their lives. Identity. Relationships. Vocation. Emotional distress. It’s exhausting, and they’re looking for relief!
When I meet with my clients suffering from weariness, here’s what I say: There is good news and bad news. The good news is that every person can experience relief, but the bad news is most of us do not know how hard we have to work to get it. It might seem counterintuitive, but rest takes far more work than weariness. This comes as a surprise to most people because they do not really understand what rest is.
When I say “rest,” what image comes to mind? A vacation at the beach? A quiet hike in the mountains? Happy hour at a bar with friends? Those images seem easy, don’t they? Indeed, those kinds of experiences can be restful, but they are not necessarily rest.
The difference is that rest is actually a lifestyle, not an event.
When I ask overwhelmed people about what rest looks like in their life, they usually cite some vacation that happened months or years ago. They are focused on an event.
But Jesus talks about rest differently. He doesn’t talk about it as an event to escape from busyness. He talks about it as an alternative lifestyle in busyness. In Matthew 11, Jesus invites the weary and burdened to come to him to get rest. But then it gets surprising: He offers something strange for a heavy-ladened soul.
He offers a yoke. A yoke is a farming tool used on laboring livestock. In other words, Jesus says to those who are overwhelmed by the burdens of life, “take a better burden.” His rest is not just escape, because he knows (as well as every adult) that you cannot escape the burdens of life. Life can be heavy. Bills. Marriage. Singleness. Friendship. Jobs. Parenting. Mental Health. All these things are hard to bear yet are ongoing realities for people. If our solution to the weight is to just find escapes, rest will be short-lived.
Jesus’ alternative burden is his lifestyle of rest. He says, “Learn from me,” to imitate his ways. Jesus offers rest, but it is only found in uniting with him and living in his way. In his book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, John Mark Comer offers this “Jesus lifestyle” as the way out from the burdensome, hurried life. It is not accomplished by escape, but by a different lifestyle. That is why this rest is more work than weariness: it takes discipline for new habits and practices. Comer says, “Jesus’s invitation is to take up his yoke - to travel through life at his side, learning from him how to shoulder the weight of life with ease. To step out of the burnout society to a life of soul rest.” That is the invitation from the Lord. There is a better way to carry your life. His offer comes with a burden, but it is easy and light because you are not the one left doing the heavy-lifting.
Stick with Christ, and you will find your rest.