Rest for the Weary

The Point of the Gospel

 

Consequences for the Unrepentant {Matthew}

Jesus criticized city people who had seen most of his miracles but refused to repent. “Bethsaida and Korazin, expect sorrow and misery. If Tyre and Sidon had seen the miracles you have, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes. They will come through the day of judgment better than you. Capernaum? You will go to Hades. The miracles you saw would have turned Sodom, and it would still be here.

Rest for the Weary {Matthew}

Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these truths from the wise and learned and revealing them to children. The Father has entrusted everything to me. Only the Father knows the Son, and the Son reveals the Father to those he chooses. Come to me, any who are weary and burdened, I will give you rest. Wear my yoke and learn what I have to teach. I am gentle and humble and you will find rest for your souls. My yoke is easy and my burden is light.

(A yoke is something that joins two animals or parts to work together. The verb means to join or bind together. Easy means more than not difficult—causing little hardship or distress, not strict or sever, not harried or forced.)

The Jews’ Unbelief {John}

Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah). Walking in Solomon’s Colonade near the temple, the Jews gathered and said, “Tell us once and for all, are you the Messiah?”

Jesus said, “The miracles I have shown you should tell you, but you don’t believe because you are not of my flock. My sheep listen and follow me. I give them eternal life and no one can take them from me. My Father, the greatest of all, gave them to me. No one can take them from him, and I and the Father are one.” The Jews grabbed stones to throw at him. Jesus said, “For which of the miracles from the Father do you stone me?”

“We are stoning you for blasphemy, because you equate yourself with God.”

“Scripture (Psalms 82:6), which is unbreakable, refers to those hearing God’s word as gods. And the one the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Is it blasphemy to say I am God’s Son? If you will not believe me who does what the Father does, believe the miracles. The Father is in me and I in the Father.” They tried to grab Jesus but he escaped.