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Breakfast with the Word Wednesday Second Week of Advent
Matthew 11:28-30
When You are Weary and Overburdened
Many people today are passing through difficult situations. Many Christians also have lost faith in God due to unforeseen circumstances. Some people have gone back to idolatrous practices because of hardship.
There are many of us today who are constantly weighed down by thier pasts, sins , problems and conditions that refuse to go. In today’s gospel, Jesus says to you “come to me”.
“Come to me” is a sign that this person must have known you very well. He knows the nature of your condition more than you do. Jesus knows the reasons you are worried. He is Omniscient. He knows what happened and what is happening.
Therefore, He is saying to you “My son/daughter, I understand you more than you do, come to me, I will help you”.
In Jesus and through Jesus we can find strength to overcome our conditions. He is the source of grace. He has the secret of life. Let us always go to Him.
Come to Me All Who Are Weary and Overburdened
In today’s gospel, we see Jesus inviting all who are weary and overburdened and promising rest to them.
“Come to me,” is an invitation, a tender call to intimacy with Jesus for all those who are weary and burdened.
“Weary” evokes the image of persons exhausted from their work or journey, while “burdened” indicates persons weighed down with heavy loads. So, when Jesus says “come to me”, He is asking us to lay our burdens on Him. He is always ready to be with us in the times of trials and difficulties.
Therefore, when you are weary and overburdened, indicates those times when all your hope in God is exhausting.
We may be overburdened by our mistakes, sins, pasts, enmity from people and problems.
They are those moments when the worries and challenges of this world are constantly weighing us down.
When You are weary and overburdened are those times you feel like praying but when you remember what you are passing through, you feel like giving up.
When Jesus says come to me, it means He is asking you not to give up yet.
He is saying “come to me , I can forgive you”, Come to me I can lift your burden” , Come to me I can give you the grace to go through the difficulty”.
“Come to me, I can protect you from the wickedness of people”
He is saying to you, I am always for you even when others reject you.
When Are Weary And Overburdened.
Jesus says today, ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and overburdened, and I will give you rest”.
Jesus addresses the crowd with this statement. They are like the crowds whom Jesus said earlier are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36).
In light of the following statements, the scribes and Pharisees seem once again to be the target of Jesus’ criticism (cf. Mt 5:20; 6:1–18).
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Jesus condemns outrightly the Jewish leaders for the burden that their legalistic traditions have put on the people (Matthew 23:4),
so this is an invitation to the crowd who have been weighed down by the legalism of the Pharisees to come to Him and find rest.
Jesus invites them to become his disciples and find rest in Him which cannot be found in the legal casuistry of the Pharisees. Therefore, it is only in Jesus can we have true peace
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Take My Yoke Upon You.
A yoke is a farming implement that joins two animals, such as oxen together so that the animals can share the workload evenly and become more productive.
Sometimes, an older, more experienced animal is yoked with a younger, less experienced animal, so that the older animal can train the younger animal while they work together.
By using the illustration of a yoke, Jesus is asking us to share and be partners with Him in His work, in His ministry and in service. He is also telling us that He will train us. He can teach us or give us the grace to overcome.
He is inviting us to share our problems, burdens and worries with Him. He invites us to see Him as our guide.
He says: “AND LEARN FROM ME, FOR I AM GENTLE AND HUMBLE IN HEART, AND YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.”
Therefore, Jesus wants us to come to Him and learn from Him in a continuing relationship. He will equip us, teach us, and guide us to be effective in life and service, if we accept His invitation and do things His way, in partnership and communion with Him, He promises that we will find rest and refreshment for our souls.
In the process, we will become more like Jesus: gentle and humble in heart. He will walk and be with us in suffering, pains and sorrowful moments.
We do not need to do things on our strengths. Just be calm and put all your trust in Him. We need Him in everything we do.
When we are weary and overburdened, Let us carry our burdens to Jesus, that He will lighten them. When we are weary and overburdened by sin, let us carry the weight of our sins to Him, He will sanctify us.
When we are weary and overburdened by difficulties, let us walk with Him in our difficult times, that He will enrich us with His grace.
My Yoke is Easy
The yoke that Jesus gives is easy. It is easy because Jesus shares it with us. It is easy because it is productive and useful, and not vain and futile.
It is easy because we are enriched by His grace and through Him, we learn how to be calm in the midst of turbulent situations.
The is a yoke that has been custom-fitted for us. As Jesus’ disciples, each of us has been allocated different ministries, purposes, and roles in life.
We live out these ministries and roles by actively partnering with Jesus and following his teaching.
The Burden of Jesus is Light because the only burden we have is to remain close to Him. They are those demands, roles and responsibilities that we must possess as followers and servants of Jesus.
But if we fulfil our role with Jesus close to us, sharing the load, and if we do things His way, in His strength etc, then our work will not become tiresome or burdensome.
When we are weary and overburdened let us learn to share it with Jesus. He will give us the grace and wisdom to go through it.
Let us do everything in Him, with Him and through Him, His graces will abound with us.
May God bless you, dearest, replenish you, guide you and save you from all your afflictions.
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