Teks -- Matthew 11:28 (NET)

11:28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

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Robertson: Mat 11:28 - Come unto me

Come unto me ( deute pros me ).

Mat 11:28-30 are not in Luke and are among the special treasures of Matthew’ s Gospel. No sublimer words exist than this call of Jesus to the toiling and the burdened (pephortismenoi , perfect passive participle, state of weariness) to come to him. He towers above all men as he challenges us. "I will refresh you"(k'ago anapausō hūmas ). Far more than mere rest, rejuvenation. The English slang expression "rest up"is close to the idea of the Greek compound anȧpauō . It is causative active voice.

Vincent: Mat 11:28 - Labor and are heavy-laden

Labor and are heavy-laden ( κοπιῶντες καὶ πεφορτισμένοι )

The first an active, the second a passive participle, exhibiting the active and passive sides of human misery.

Vincent: Mat 11:28 - Give rest

Give rest ( ἀναπαύσω )

Originally to make to cease; Tynd., ease; Wyc., refresh. The radical conception is that of relief.

Wesley: Mat 11:28 - Come to me

Here he shows to whom he is pleased to reveal these things to the weary and heavy laden; ye that labour - After rest in God: and are heavy laden - With the guilt and power of sin: and I will give you rest - I alone (for none else can) will freely give you (what ye cannot purchase) rest from the guilt of sin by justification, and from the power of sin by sanctification.

JFB: Mat 11:28 - Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest

Incomparable, ravishing sounds these--if ever such were heard in this weary, groaning world! What gentleness, what sweetness is there in the very style of the invitation--"Hither to Me"; and in the words, "All ye that toil and are burdened," the universal wretchedness of man is depicted, on both its sides--the active and the passive forms of it.

Clarke: Mat 11:28 - Come unto me

Come unto me - This phrase in the new covenant implies simply, believing in Christ, and becoming his disciple, or follower

Clarke: Mat 11:28 - All ye that labor and are heavy laden

All ye that labor and are heavy laden - The metaphor here appears to be taken from a man who has a great load laid upon him, which he must carry to a certain place: every step he takes reduces his strength, and renders his load the more oppressive. However, it must be carried on; and he labors, uses his utmost exertions, to reach the place where it is to be laid down. A kind person passing by, and, seeing his distress, offers to ease him of his load, that he may enjoy rest

The Jews, heavily laden with the burdensome rites of the Mosaic institution, rendered still more oppressive by the additions made by the scribes and Pharisees, who, our Lord says, (Mat 23:4), bound on heavy burdens; and laboring, by their observance of the law, to make themselves pleasing to God, are here invited to lay down their load, and receive the salvation procured for them by Christ

Sinners, wearied in the ways of iniquity, are also invited to come to this Christ, and find speedy relief

Penitents, burdened with the guilt of their crimes, may come to this Sacrifice, and find instant pardon

Believers, sorely tempted, and oppressed by the remains of the carnal mind, may come to this blood, that cleanseth from all unrighteousness; and, purified from all sin, and powerfully succored in every temptation, they shall find uninterrupted rest in this complete Savior

All are invited to come, and all are promised rest. If few find rest from sin and vile affections, it is because few come to Christ to receive it.

Calvin: Mat 11:28 - Come to me all that labor

28.Come to me all that labor He now kindly invites to himself those whom he acknowledges to be fit for becoming his disciples. Though he is ready to reveal the Father to all, yet the greater part are careless about coming to him, because they are not affected by a conviction of their necessities. Hypocrites give themselves no concern about Christ, because they are intoxicated with their own righteousness, and neither hunger nor thirst (Mat 5:6) for his grace. Those who are devoted to the world set no value on heavenly life. It would be in vain, therefore, for Christ to invite either of these classes, and therefore he turns to the wretched and afflicted. He speaks of them as laboring, or groaning under a burden, and does not mean generally those who are oppressed with grief and vexations, but those who are overwhelmed by their sins, who are filled with alarm at the wrath of God, and are ready to sink under so weighty a burden. There are various methods, indeed, by which God humbles his elect; but as the greater part of those who are loaded with afflictions still remain obstinate and rebellious, Christ means by persons laboring and burdened, those whose consciences are distressed by their exposure to eternal death, and who are inwardly so pressed down by their miseries that they faint; for this very fainting prepares them for receiving his grace. He tells us that the reason why most men despise his grace is, that they are not sensible of their poverty; but that there is no reason why their pride or folly should keep back afflicted souls that long for relief.

Let us therefore bid adieu to all who, entangled by the snares of Satan, either are persuaded that they possess a righteousness out of Christ, or imagine that they are happy in this world. Let our miseries drive us to seek Christ; and as he admits none to the enjoyment of his rest but those who sink under the burden, let us learn, that there is no venom more deadly than that slothfulness which is produced in us, either by earthly happiness, or by a false and deceitful opinion of our own righteousness and virtue. Let each of us labor earnestly to arouse himself, first, by vigorously shaking off the luxuries of the world; and, secondly, by laying aside every false confidence. Now though this preparation for coming to Christ makes them as dead men, ⁷¹ yet it ought to be observed, that it is the gift of the Holy Spirit, because it is the commencement of repentance, to which no man aspires in his own strength. Christ did not intend to show what man can do of himself, but only to inform us what must be the feelings of those who come to him.

They who limit the burden and the labor to ceremonies of the Law, take a very narrow view of Christ’s meaning. I do acknowledge, that the Law was intolerably burdensome, and overwhelmed the souls of worshippers; but we must bear in mind what I have said, that Christ stretches out his hand to all the afflicted, and thus lays down a distinction between his disciples and those who despise the Gospel. But we must attend to the universality of the expression; for Christ included all, without exception, who labor and are burdened, that no man may shut the gate against himself by wicked doubts. ⁷² And yet all such persons are few in number; for, among the innumerable multitude of those that perish, few are aware that they are perishing. The relief which he promises consists in the free pardon of sins, which alone gives us peace.

TSK: Mat 11:28 - Come // all // and I

Come : Isa 45:22-25, Isa 53:2, Isa 53:3, Isa 55:1-3; Joh 6:37, Joh 7:37; Rev 22:17

all : Mat 23:4; Gen 3:17-19; Job 5:7, Job 14:1; Psa 32:4, Psa 38:4, Psa 90:7-10; Ecc 1:8, Ecc 1:14, Ecc 2:22, Ecc 2:23, Ecc 4:8; Isa 1:4, Isa 61:3, Isa 66:2; Mic 6:6-8; Act 15:10; Rom 7:22-25; Gal 5:1

and I : Mat 11:29; Psa 94:13, Psa 116:7; Isa 11:10, Isa 28:12, Isa 48:17, Isa 48:18; Jer 6:16; 2Th 1:7; Heb 4:1

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Poole: Mat 11:28-30 - Take my yoke upon you // For I am meek and lowly // For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light

Ver. 28-30. Our Lord having before showed;

1. That all power was given to him;

2. That none could know the Father but by and in him; closes his discourse with an invitation of persons to him. By the weary and heavy laden, in the text, some understand those that are laden with the sense of their sins, and the feeling the guilt of them. Others understand, with the burden of the law, which the apostles called a yoke, Act 15:10 .

Mr. Calvin thinks this too strait an interpretation. Others understand heavy laden with trials and afflictions. Christ will give rest to all those of his people that are any ways weary and heavy laden, but in an order first to souls wearied and heavy laden with the burden of their sins, and their want of a righteousness wherein to stand before God. Then to such to whom he hath given this rest, he promises also rest from their troubles and persecutions in the world, Joh 16:33 . It is very like he used this term, Come, with respect to that of Isaiah, Isa 55:1,2 . That by coming is to be understood believing is plain from Joh 6:44-46 Heb 11:6 . The rest promised chiefly respecteth the soul, as appears from Mat 11:29 . The promise may be understood both of that rest which believers have in this life, Rom 5:2 15:13 , and also of that rest which after this life remaineth to the people of God, Heb 4:9 . Whatever the rest be, it must be of Christ’ s giving and our seeking; nor is it to be obtained without labour and suffering, for it followeth,

Take my yoke upon you The members of Christ are not without a yoke, a law and rule by which they are obliged to walk; and though the service of God be a perfect freedom, yet to flesh and blood it is a yoke, grating upon our sensitive appetite, and restraining our natural motions and inclinations.

For I am meek and lowly Humility and meekness are in themselves yokes, as they are contrary to our pride, and aptness to swell in a high opinion of ourselves; and to our wrath and danger, which sometimes boils to a great height, without any due fuel: and as in themselves they are a great part of Christ’ s yoke, so they fit and dispose us to take Christ’ s further yoke upon us, and may be here considered as means directed for the better performance of the precept,

Take my yoke upon you Our Lord also by this precept lets us know there can be no true faith without obedience to the commands of Christ. Though true faith and obedience be two things, yet they are inseparable; Show me thy faith (saith James) by thy works; and the rest of the text is not promised to either of them severally, but to both jointly.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light Our Saviour had before Mat 7:13,14told us that the way to heaven is a strait way, how doth he now tell us his yoke is easy and his burden light?

Answer:

1. Nothing makes it hard or burdensome but our corruption, which floweth from the depravation of human nature.

2. It is much easier than the yoke and burden of the law.

3. Though it be hard to beginners, yet it is easy when we have once accustomed ourselves to it.

4. It is easy, considering that we do it not in our own strength, but by assistance from God, Jer 31:33 Eze 36:25,26 Joh 15:3 , we are delivered even from the moral law, considered as a covenant, and as merely commanding us, and affording no help and assistance.

5. It is also easy; as we are by the love of God constrained to our duty, so we are freed from the rigour of the law. It is easy and light, as it is a course of life highly consonant to our reason, once delivered from a bondage to our passions. Finally, it is much more easy and light than the service of our lusts is. There is no greater slavery than a subjection to our lusts, that if a drunkard saith "Come," we must come, if an harlot saith "Go," we must go. Or than our service to the world, &c. To say nothing of the exceeding easiness of it, from the prospect of the great reward proposed and promised to those who keep the commandments of Christ, the exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 2Co 4:17 ; as Jacob’ s hard service of fourteen years seemed to him but a few days.

PBC: Mat 11:28

See Philpot: THE LABOURER’S REST

Haydock: Mat 11:28 - All you that

All you that, &c. That is, you who are wearied with the heavy load of your sins, and the grievous yoke of the old law. (Menochius)

Gill: Mat 11:28 - Come unto me // all ye that labour, and are heavy laden // And I will give you rest

Come unto me,.... Christ having signified, that the knowledge of God, and the mysteries of grace, are only to be come at through him; and that he has all things relating to the peace, comfort, happiness, and salvation of men in his hands, kindly invites and encourages souls to come unto him for the same: by which is meant, not a local coming, or a coming to hear him preach; for so his hearers, to whom he more immediately directed his speech, were come already; and many of them did, as multitudes may, and do, in this sense, come to Christ, who never knew him, nor receive any spiritual benefit by him: nor is it a bare coming under the ordinances of Christ, submission to baptism, or an attendance at the Lord's supper, the latter of which was not yet instituted; and both may be performed by men, who are not yet come to Christ: but it is to be understood of believing in Christ, the going of the soul to him, in the exercise of grace on him, of desire after him, love to him, faith and hope in him: believing in Christ, and coming to him, are terms synonymous, Joh 6:35. Those who come to Christ aright, come as sinners, to a full, suitable, able, and willing Saviour; venture their souls upon him, and trust in him for righteousness, life, and salvation, which they are encouraged to do, by this kind invitation; which shows his willingness to save, and his readiness to give relief to distressed minds. The persons invited, are not "all" the individuals of mankind, but with a restriction,

all ye that labour, and are heavy laden; meaning, not these who are labouring in the service of sin and Satan, are laden with iniquity, and insensible of it: these are not weary of sin, nor burdened with it; not do they want or desire any rest for their souls; but such who groan, being burdened with the guilt of sin upon their consciences, and are pressed down with the unsupportable yoke of the law, and the load of human traditions; and have been labouring till they are weary, in order to obtain peace of conscience, and rest for their souls, by the observance of these things, but in vain. These are encouraged to come to him, lay down their burdens at his feet, look to, and lay hold by faith on his person, blood, righteousness, and sacrifice; when they should enjoy that true spiritual consolation, which could never be attained to by the works of the law.

And I will give you rest; spiritual rest here, peace of conscience, ease of mind, tranquillity of soul, through an application of pardoning grace, a view of free justification by the righteousness of Christ, and full atonement of sin by his sacrifice; and eternal rest hereafter, in Abraham's bosom, in the arms of Jesus, in perfect and uninterrupted communion with Father, Son, and Spirit. The Jews say ^y, that מנוחת תורה, "the law is rest"; and so explain Gen 49:15 of it: but a truly sensible sinner enjoys no rest, but in Christ; it is like Noah's dove, which could find no rest for the soles of its feet, until it returned to the ark; and they themselves expect perfect rest in the days of the Messiah, and call his world מנוחה, rest ^z.