Matthew 11:28-30 Come to Me all who are weary and heavy-laden, 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.
This has always been a tough passage for me. I wasn't even sure I wanted to meditate on it this morning. As I continued reading, however, the bigger picture came into view for me. Jesus asks us to come to Him and to become part of his mission. From there, the passage focuses on the Pharisees who were clearly not aligning themselves with Jesus' mission along with sharp rebuke for them. The next series of stories are parables about heaven (seven to be exact). Jesus is sharing the big picture with those who would listen. After this, there seems to be some testing, or "hands on learning" for the disciples. Chapter 15 brings us back to the Pharisees who have learned nothing and demonstrate that with more nit picky questions about traditions.
It is difficult for me to come to Jesus and trust in His plan for me because I am too caught up in myself. It was a little bit startling to read about the seed in the thorny soil (13:21) that falls away because he has no firm root "in himself". I am very familiar with this story, but those words had never stood out to me like that before. When the disciples are asked to feed the five thousand, they reply "We have..." (14:17). It was so obvious this morning that it isn't about me, my strength, my resources, my abilities or my anything. It is about Jesus and whether I will trust Him or not.
Thankfully, we have the disciples. They were a little slow to catch on too. They encourage me because they did show growth. Peter trusted Jesus and got out of the boat (14:28-30). While he was choked with worry, it was temporary. Jesus asked him, "...why did you doubt?" (14:31) The question is past tense. Peter trusted Jesus to walk on the water, doubted when the wind picked up and trusted Jesus to save him. When Jesus asked the disciples to feed the four thousand, they asked Him where they would get enough food. They didn't deny the possibility of feeding the crowd this time, but they knew their resources lacked.
I realize that the Bible is not written in an exact chronological order, however, I believe the Bible is written to teach. Passages that once seemed to random to me, now seem to have a greater purpose. (This is why I read about five chapters at a time instead of one or a few verses) I get so excited when the bigger picture makes sense and reinforces the lesson in a smaller section of Scripture.
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