Matthew 11:25-30--Come to Me, and I Will Give You Rest

Matthew 11:25-30 English Standard Version (ESV)
LISTEN:  www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Matt.11.25-Matt.11.30
Come to Me, and I Will Give You Rest
25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

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This seems like a strange prayer to thank the Father for hiding things from the "wise" and "understanding" and revealing them to the "little children."  Jesus will be in a seemingly continuous conflict with the wise and learned religious leaders such as the Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, teachers of the law and lawyers.  Jesus says that this is part of God the Father's gracious will--that no one knows and can understand the Son (that's Jesus) except God the Father and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son reveals the Father to (that's us who have believed).

Then Jesus gives a sort of altar call that stands in contrast to the judgment He just proclaimed and the prayer that He just made.  Even thought Jesus knows these cities will not repent, He still calls them to follow after Him anyways, and even though Jesus knows that many have not had their eyes opened to His identity--especially the "wise and understanding," He invites them as well, knowing that they will not see Him for who He truly is.

Jesus calls all of them who are burdened under the "yoke" of the Old Testament law and the added burdens given by the Pharisees to come to Jesus and experience His yoke which does exist, but it is a much easier yoke and the burden is much lighter because Jesus took the heavy yoke and the heavy burden of fulfilling the Old Covenant perfectly upon Himself so that we don't have to.  We are are given His righteousness when we repent and come to Him in faith and He takes away our old sin nature and gives us a new nature...His nature.  In this way the Father who knows the Son sees the Son when the Father sees us, and we will not partake in the wrath that will be poured out on unbelievers in the end.

Most religious systems have a heavy burden of trying to earn God's favor or trying to perfect oneself to the point of becoming a god, or something similar to this--some of them don't even have any assurance that their deity that they believe in will be fair and just in such a judgement (in fact, they would have to hope for an unjust judge, because we all sin so much that if we got what we deserved, none of us would deserve any kind of blessing).  However, Christ has made a covenant about "being" instead of "doing"--we studied this first when we looked at the Sermon on the Mount, and it is only through faith in Him that we are made new on the inside and can even start to live according to the standards of the Sermon on the Mount that in one way are "easier" and a "lighter" burden, but in another way are so much harder because they attack the heart of the matter, and no natural man has a clean heart--a new heart must be given to Him.  So you see that all the work, not just the work of the cross, but even the gift of faith and the understanding to be able to call upon the name of the Lord, and the transformation that it brings about is all from God and we can take no credit for it.  In this way, the yoke is easy and the burden is light, because God is the one that takes care of all the details and we simply need to follow in the footsteps of Jesus..