COME, ALL YOU WHO LABOUR

SCRIPTURE READINGS : GENESIS 24:34-49, ROMANS 7:15-25a, MATTHEW 11:16-19, 25-30

SUNDAY REFLECTION

“Come, all you who labour” is the theme for our reflection. To labour means to have difficulty in doing something despite working hard. Come, all you who labour is an invitation by Jesus Christ to anyone who is trying his or her best in life yet continues to encounter challenges in life. Jesus understands our human weaknesses and predicaments and therefore uses the metaphor of the oxen which are mainly used for farm and haulage activities in ancient Israel. These oxen are yoked together and are made to work or till the land for farming. There are times they are used to hurl heavy goods from one place to the other. Some of the oxen owners overwork them and when they become weak and no longer fit for purpose they are sold and replaced. We shall recall that in the parable of the great banquet in Luke 14:15-24, one of the excuses given by one of the invitees is “I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ (Luke 14:19 ) Today, tractors have replaced oxen in farm work although in some places people still make use of them. Being likened to the labouring and exhausted oxen, Jesus invites and assures us that “Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ 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. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30). In other words, Jesus greatly assures us that, unlike the wicked and abusive farmer who overworks his oxen, He will be kind to us and give us rest from our burdensome labour. His yoke is not tight so as to make us suffer and His burden is not overwhelmingly heavy so as to make us grow weary. Dear friend, we shall look at two circumstances in which Jesus invites us to come to Him in our labour:

Jesus invites us to come, all who labour in search of their needs in life.
Jesus invites us to come, all who labour in trying to overcome sin.

First, Jesus invites us to come, all who labour in search of their needs in life. In Genesis 24:34-49, Eliezer, the chief servant of Abraham was sent on a mission to look for a befitting wife for Isaac, Abraham’s son. Eliezer asked Abraham, “What if the woman will not come back with me?’ ⁴⁰ “Abraham replied, ‘The LORD, before whom I have walked faithfully, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father’s family. (Genesis 24:39-40). We observe that Abraham had already committed the labour of searching for a wife for His son into the hands of God. Again when Eliezer got to his destination, He also committed his endeavour of searching for a wife for Isaac into God’s hands when he said, “When I came to the spring today, I said, ‘LORD, God of my master Abraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come…“Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder.” (Genesis 24:42,45). Abraham and Eliezer committed their search for a wife for Isaac and the Lord blessed their labour with success. Similarly, when we entrust our labour for our needs into the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ, He shall crown our labour with success. Jesus assures us that “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:13-14). My dear friend, many of us are tired and feeling hopeless because we have laboured without Jesus. Do we commit our labour or plans into the hands of Jesus or do we call Him only when we encounter challenges in our lives? Who do you rely on when searching for a job or a partner to marry? Who do you rely on for success when running your business or seeking a promotion at your workplace? Most of us rely on our feeble strength which can not labour for long, others rely on other gods who fail them at the end. The Psalmist reminds us in Psalm 127:1-2 that “Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labour in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. ² In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat—for he grants sleep to those he loves.” When David was in battle with Goliath, He said to Goliath “All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” (1 Samuel 17:47). Again, when Abraham and Sarah received the promise of a child in their old age, “…Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?” ¹³ Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” (Genesis 18:12-14) Beloved in the Lord, nothing is too hard for the Lord, it is for this reason, Jesus is inviting us to come, all you who labour in search of our needs. Paul assures us that when we come to Jesus “… God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)

Secondly, Jesus invites us to come, all who labour in trying to overcome sin. Again Jesus acknowledges our weakness and therefore came into the world to empower us to overcome sin and be saved. Paul acknowledges our labour in trying to overcome sin, and he gives glory to Jesus for delivering us when he wrote that “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ²¹ So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:18-25) Beloved in the Lord, some of us are addicted to sin to the extent it now rules over our lives. Some of us are addicted to fornication, adultery, corruption, and all manner of sins. No matter our intention to stop, we keep going back to them. Today, Jesus is inviting you to come, all you who labour in sin or are struggling with any form of sin, For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10). God know that our labour is not enough to deliver us from sin. therefore, “… God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16-17). Some of us are overwhelmed with the guilts of the sins we have committed in the past and present. Spiritually, morally and physically we are overwhelmed with sin. Let us remember that “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23) ” Like the prodigal and lost son, having discovered that our labour has been fruitless, it is time to come home to Jesus and say “I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son (or daughter)” (Luke 15:18-19). Indeed “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-9). Coming to Jesus in repentance and receiving His forgiveness means we are willing to take up His yoke upon us and receive the rest He promised to give to all who come to Him.. Dear friend, Jesus is saying to us today, “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. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:29-30)

In summary, we have reflected on the theme “Come, all you who labour” We have discovered that Jesus knows our weakness and weariness, therefore, He invites us to come, all you who labour in search of your needs and those who labour in trying to overcome sin. Jesus has the answers to our needs and is able to give us rest, success and victory over sin. May the Holy Spirit empower us to labour in Christ and be successful in all our endeavours. Amen.