Where to Find Rest

The Gospel lectionary reading for today is from Matthew 11:28-30.

Jesus said, "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 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."

One thing we can learn from this passage is that Jesus invites the exhausted to come to him. Is your soul exhausted today? "What is soul exhaustion?" you may ask. It is the weariness that comes from running. Until we run to Christ we are running away from so many things. We run away from deep relationships because we are afraid of being hurt. We run from problems created by our wrong way of living. We run from quietness and solitude into busyness because we are afraid that if we pause for a moment we may be reminded of how empty our lives are. We run because we think it is we who sustain our own lives and not God.

Columnist Herb Caen once wrote this in the San Francisco Chronicle, "Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle; when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."

What or whom are we running from? What or whom are we running to? Jesus invites the exhausted in soul to run to him and find rest.

Jesus invites those who are exhausted in their search for truth to come to him. The Greeks said, "It is very difficult to find God, and when you have found him, it is impossible to tell others about him."

By contrast, Jesus says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Jesus claims that the long and lonely search for God, for soul contentment, ends in himself.

St. Augustine said, "Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee." Are our hearts restless? If so, Jesus invites us, to come to him for rest, no matter who we are or what we have done or not done in life.

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