Why Would I Want Your Burden Jesus?

Delivered July 2, 2008

Reference Matthew 11:25-30

This text has always been one that is quoted by my friends and family and myself when others around are having a rough time with life. When people are weary, burdened, heavy laden etc. Jesus invites them to come to Him and find rest in Him, because his yoke is easy and his burden is light. Until last week, I found this to be unequivocally true and a very necessary and comforting message to hear, but then I started thinking a bit about Jesus burden and realized something. His burden is absolutely not light. How can a person of the Triune God come to earth, become human, take on the sins of the whole world as a burden, while not sinning himself and still say that His burden is light. It doesn’t make sense. Jesus Christ had the heaviest burden of any person of any time ever. Why in the world would I take his yoke upon myself, his yoke can’t be easy. And so I began for the first time in my life to truly struggle with this text.

And so I began to study a few things, and the understanding I gained was this:
The burden Jesus carries to the cross is not his burden. It is ours. He took it from us and gave us his burden, his yoke; which are easy and light, whereas our burden and yoke are heavy and strenuous due to sin.

Jesus speaks to those who are burdening and wearying themselves by putting demands of the law on themselves because they think that’s what is needed accomplish salvation, and Jesus is speaking to those who are being loaded down by other people telling them what they need to do to gain salvation. He is saying, Come to me to all of you. I have a better solution.

Burden exists because of sin, and constantly striving to be saved by what we do. Jesus says to us, no take my burden. Take my nonexistent burden because I have never sinned, and I’ll take away your burdens. Christ says “I will make my burden heavy so yours can be light.”
And this is all done that we may rest. Christ does not come to give us more commands. He does not come to pile on more burdens. He comes to silence them. He comes to give this all to us as a gift – to give relief and rest – to take away our burdens and weariness.
Earthly life may not be easy, but access to salvation is. It is accomplished in Christ’s death and resurrection.
For a connection to the text, we are going to watch a short clip from the first Lord of the Rings movie, “The Fellowship of the Ring”
The fellowship is in trouble. Gandalf, their leader was recently taken from them. They’re all quite sad and uncertain what to do next. They’ve found their way into the safest place they could find, perhaps the safest place left in Middle Earth, Lothlorien. Where the Lady Galadriel speaks to the 8 remaining members of the fellowship.

Watch Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring extended edition, disk 2, from 48:15-51:30.

It’s always interesting when movies quote Scripture. In this case Galadriel quotes John 14:1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” She knows they are weary and burdened. They are burdened with sorrow for losing Gandalf, but moreover, they all feel as though the salvation of Middle Earth depends upon them. And if they fail, it will be to the ruin of all. And they’re right. The pressure comes internally from themselves and externally from all who know of their quest.

And yet she tells them that they will sleep in peace.

All of the members of the Fellowship were feeling the burden and weight of accomplishing deliverance from evil for all people. Their purpose is to destroy the One Ring, but how can they now, without their leader?

If this were a straight allegory, Galadriel would take the ring, destroy it herself and all would live happily ever after, but this is not the case, there is still 8 or 9 hours of movie to watch!

If you continue watching for a few minutes, Galadriel lets Frodo know it’s all on him. He’s carrying the ring. He must find a way to destroy it or no one will.

This just goes to show how our God is so great. How he humbles himself to take our burdens and exchange our heavy burden for his light burden. How he secures salvation for us, instead of giving us advice on how to get the job done ourselves. We can’t get the job done ourselves.
God intersects our lives in the person Jesus Christ to complete salvation for us by dying on the cross and bursting forth from the empty tomb on the third day.
Because of this we know that we can indeed come to our Savior and Lord and truly find rest.