Grace That Offers Rest to the Weary

Have you ever seen a toddler try to pick up something that is too heavy? They walk up fully expecting to lift this heavy object, wrap their too-short arms around it, and try to pick it up with all of their might. Their face strains, they give a little grunt, and they attempt to pick it up, but it doesn’t move, even after a few attempts. Finally, they turn and look at you with a confused look, not understanding why it won’t budge.

Just like the toddler attempting to lift something impossibly heavy, Jews during the time of Jesus were trying to live under an impossibly heavy standard of perfection placed on them by the religious elite of their time. Many of the Jews had the right intention. They wanted to honor God, but their means of achieving that were flawed. Their hearts were infected by the same original sin that has plagued humanity since Adam and Eve were in the garden—self-sufficiency.

In today’s passage, Jesus is teaching a group of Jews who were worn out trying to live up to an impossible standard of perfection. Jesus uses an illustration of two oxen tied together by the same yoke, pulling a cart or till. During that time, it was standard practice for the farmer to take a young, inexperienced ox and pair it with an older, seasoned ox. When the young ox inevitably stumbled or tried to veer off course, the experienced, stronger ox would stand still to guide the young ox back in place.

We are 2,000 years beyond the time Jesus shared this teaching, and yet it’s still applicable as we all struggle with the same original sin of self-sufficiency. Trying to earn the right to approach God; constantly attempting to outwork our sin and expecting others to do the same. But we don’t have to, uur Father provided the perfect substitution to perpetual toil—His own Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ offer to us is the same as it was to the Jews He was teaching in Matthew. To be that older, seasoned ox—to bear the heaviest part of the load, to protect us from going to dangerous places, and to guide us to a place of rest and peace. The word He uses in the Greek for “rest” is anápausis, which literally means inner tranquility that comes from the complete cessation of work. Believer, find peace in knowing that your work will never be enough, and Jesus will always be more than you need.