Matthew 8:18-22, 11:20-30
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and 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. (Mt. 11:28-29) I thought of these verses on Wednesday evening as we had our “Way of the Cross” service at St. Andrew’s. One of the stations has Jesus taking up His cross. So I first thought of the verse where Jesus says “…take up your cross and follow Me.” (Mt. 16:24) And I knew that that cross would be heavy – very heavy for any of us to take it up, but not nearly as heavy as Jesus’ cross, on which he bore the sins of all people for all time. But I also thought of His yoke and our finding rest. That was a more consoling thought. So we’re somewhere in that mix between our cross and His yoke. Life has its ups and downs, its easy times and hard times. Taking up our cross is essentially inviting some challenging times in our lives, but we know that we are not carrying that cross alone. Jesus has already done the heavy lifting. We are there just to walk alongside, to love the Man who loved us so dearly. Let’s find His rest this Good Friday!
See also: July 2 / Matt. 8:18-22; July 4 / Matt. 11:20-30