Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened! (Matthew 11:20-30)

[Stephan Choe]

April 28, 2026

Key verses 28-30:       “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, 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.”

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIDsCwbNr1Y

Jesus had primarily ministered in the region of Galilee, performing miracles and proclaiming the gospel in places like Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. But the people in these towns had not repented or accepted the gospel. Therefore, Jesus was saddened and rebuked them.

However, Jesus found some people who humbly accepted the gospel. Therefore, he praised God for this and warmly invited everyone to come to him.

Today, we want to learn about his warm invitation so that we may gratefully accept it.

1. Jesus' Lament (20-24)

For about two years, Jesus ministered in Galilee. This period is called the "Galilean Spring." The people were to gratefully accept God's offer of grace and experience forgiveness and the Kingdom of God. Unfortunately, they did not accept the offer. This grieved him deeply.

Therefore, he began to rebuke the Galilean cities: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had once been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, Tyre and Sidon will not fare as badly as you will on the day of judgment. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, Sodom would still be standing today. I tell you, it will be much better for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you!” (21-24).

Chorazin, Bethsaida ,Capernaum[1], Sidon, and Tyre[2]                                             

Capernaum was located on the upper western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Bethsaida lies about 8 km east of Capernaum on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It is the birthplace of Peter, Andrew, and Philip. Jesus fed 5,000 people near Bethsaida (Luke 9:10).

Chorazin was located about 4 km north of Capernaum. Unfortunately, the Bible does not report anything about what Jesus did in Chorazin. However, we recall the remark of the Apostle John at the end of the Gospel of John:

“There are many other things that Jesus did. If it were possible to write them all, I believe that even the whole world could not contain the books that would have to be written” (John 21:25).

Therefore, the four Gospels do not give us a complete account of Jesus' ministry, but only a selection of his works.

The people in Galilean cities enjoyed great privileges because Jesus ministered as the Messiah in their cities. They could see his miracles with their own eyes and hear his teaching with their own ears. Their privileges also meant their responsibility to gratefully accept the gospel and share it with others. But they did not accept the gospel and did not proclaim Jesus as Christ. Therefore, he rebuked them:

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed among you had once been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, dressed in sackcloth and ashes.”

God has blessed Germany in many ways, so that many men of God, such as Martin Luther, August Hermann Franke, and Georg Müller, were born in Germany. God has sent many missionaries from Germany. The first evangelical missionary in Korea was also a German named Karl F. A. Gützlaff. God has also blessed Germany economically. Many products “Made in Germany” are valued throughout the world. Germans have the best opportunity to believe in the gospel and share it.

Unfortunately, most people in Germany today are indifferent to Jesus Christ. They don't value Jesus Christ much and meet the Gospel with indifference. People's hearts are cold toward God, and churches stand empty. This indifference has serious consequences.

Jesus can say today: "Woe to you, Germany! Woe to you, France! Woe to you, Italy!"

We should pray that God grants Germany and Europe a spirit of repentance and a revival.

2. Jesus' Invitation (25-30)

Jesus was initially saddened by the rejection of the gospel and rebuked it in his lament. Was he despairing because of their rejection?

Not at all. Rather, he praised God for his work: “I praise you, Father of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children” (25b).

He believed in the perfect providence of God and his powerful work.

To understand God's providence, we need to understand the interplay between divine predestination and human self-responsibility.

Buddha's real name was Siddhartha Gautama. He came from a princely family in northern India, from a city that is now part of Nepal. In his 29th year, through encounters with a sick man, an old man, and a dead man, he came to the realization that human life is transient. Therefore, shortly after the birth of his son, he left his family and his former life to find the truth of life. He first tried to transcend the visible world through yoga. Then he tried to transcend the visible world through the strictest asceticism, but in vain. Therefore, he resumed eating and began meditating under a tree. Buddhists call this "contemplative meditation." He believed that at the age of 35, he had found the truth of the Middle Way. And such an enlightened person as he is called a Buddha, meaning "enlightened one." As a way of life, he recommends a middle path, a balance between a life of indulgence and a life of strict abstinence. The fundamental principle of his teaching is the law of retribution, or the law of causality: all events in human life and the world are the consequences of one's past actions.

He proclaimed the doctrine of the cycle of existence and the liberating path out of this cycle. Those who have done something bad during their lives would be reborn after death as a lowly animal, such as a pig or earthworm. Those who have done something good, however, would be reborn as a superior animal, such as a horse or human. When a person is completely free from all their human worries, desires, and cravings, they become a Buddha and are liberated from the repetitive turning of the wheel of fate between birth and death. They call this teaching "the turning of the Dharma wheel."

Because they believe in the cycle of living beings, they consider killing any living being, such as an earthworm, equivalent to killing a human being. Therefore, Buddhists try not to kill earthworms when laying the foundation of a house.

Buddhism is, therefore, a religion of works and consequences. All other religions are also religions of works and consequences, just like Buddhism. According to their teachings, we must be completely free of evil and do enough good to experience liberation. Unfortunately, no one is in such a position. In Buddhism, there is fundamentally no forgiveness.

Human responsibility means that every person is responsible for their own behavior. God did not make humans into robots. Whoever does not believe in Jesus Christ is responsible for themselves and cannot relinquish their responsibility to anyone else.

Divine predestination, on the other hand, states that God has already determined everything beforehand, so that all events occur according to his predetermined will. Nothing can happen without God's will. Otherwise, God would not be God.

Human responsibility and divine predestination seem contradictory, but they are like two sides of the same coin.

How divine predestination and human responsibility interact is ultimately a divine mystery.

Although Jesus was saddened by the unbelief of many, he did not despair because he believed in God's good predestination. He recognized that God, in his wisdom, had predestined that people could not recognize Jesus as the Son of God through their own cleverness. Rather, people can accept the truth that Jesus is the Son of God and the Christ with humility and gratitude.

Of course, Jesus did not mean that human cleverness was the obstacle to faith. Rather, he meant that human pride was the obstacle to faith. Many clever people become proud and reject the gospel. That is a pity. But even clever people can believe in Jesus Christ if they are humble. The Apostle Paul is a good example of this. At first, he was arrogant because of his intelligence and did not believe in Jesus, but persecuted Christians. Through his encounter with the risen Jesus, he became humble and believed in him. It is clear that our intelligence cannot lead us to faith in Jesus. But even intelligent people, if they are humble, can believe in Jesus Christ and become good evangelists.

Now let us consider the content of Jesus' praise more closely. Jesus said, "I praise you, Father of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children" (25b).

Although it seemed that everyone had rejected the gospel, there were some who accepted it.

Jesus said, "Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (26-27).

Jesus praised God because God had predestined that people would not recognize Jesus as the Son of God through their own cleverness, but through God's revelation. God did not want people to be proud of their own cleverness. Rather, they were to become humble and gratefully accept the gospel.

If we could find the way to salvation through our own cleverness, we could be proud of ourselves. But God does not want us to boast. Therefore, He blinded the proud to the way of salvation but opened the eyes of the humble. God is still powerfully at work today, even though we think that only a few people believe in Jesus Christ.

But Jesus proclaims to us the refreshment of his forgiveness: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Even though we are burdened with guilt, we may come to him and experience his forgiveness. Jesus continues, “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.” Jesus can truly set us free and refresh us because, as the Son of God, he is all-powerful yet merciful. When we humbly and gratefully accept him as the Son of God and Christ, he forgives our sins freely, warmly welcomes us as his children, and strengthens us. An example is the criminal on the cross. When he repented and believed in Jesus Christ, Jesus forgave him all his sins and took him to the kingdom of heaven.   We should take to heart Jesus’ words, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Two lessons can be drawn:  

First, Jesus invites us to himself so that we may find refreshment and forgiveness.

In this world, we are weary and burdened for various reasons. The first reason for our weariness lies in our sense of duty. We have various obligations. For example, we have financial obligations and are expected to earn a sufficient income. Students have obligations to complete their studies successfully. And parents have obligations to raise their children. We also have moral obligations to be good parents, citizens, and employees. We also have religious obligations. Unfortunately, we often fail to fulfill these or other obligations and break this or that commandment. It is easy for us to become legalistic and condemn ourselves or others. But Jesus is not legalistic; he is merciful. He graciously forgives our sins, warmly welcomes us, and greatly encourages us. We should gratefully accept this Jesus and serve him out of gratitude.

I remember my mother. She was merciful to me and her children. She never told me to study hard. Furthermore, she was simply merciful. That's why I always have a grateful heart for them. Our Jesus Christ is merciful to us all. He always accepts us, even though we sometimes make mistakes or sin.

  Secondly, Jesus invites us to himself so that we may be strengthened and fulfill our responsibilities well.

Jesus says, "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."

When we believe in Jesus Christ, he gives us responsibilities. Of course, we should continue our existing responsibilities, such as working and being parents. But in Jesus Christ, the nature of these responsibilities changes. Responsibilities without Jesus Christ are usually more legalistic and difficult. But responsibilities in Jesus Christ are easy.

Why?

Because Jesus Christ carries our burdens with us. We can surrender our burdens to him and find rest. We do pray to God for our responsibilities, such as studying, work, raising children, etc. But we believe that God carries everything with us. In faith, we can entrust everything to God. And despite our guilt and wrongdoing, we can find peace of mind because we know that our Lord has taken away our guilt. Therefore, we don't need to waste our energy. Rather, we can better focus on our tasks and bear good fruit for God.  

Jesus warmly invites us to Himself: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” We should gratefully accept Jesus' invitation and come to Him. We should lay down everything that burdens us, be it our sins or our burdens, and find peace and refreshment. We should receive His comfort and His strength and live and serve Him with joy. God will surely bless us with much joy and fruit. Amen!

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[1] https://www.jw.org/de/bibliothek/buecher/Einsichten-%C3%BCber-die-Heilige-Schrift/Das-Galil%C3%A4ische-Meer-und-seine-Umgebung/

[2] https://www.romanports.org/de/artikel/ports-im-focus/701-tyros-geburtsort-europas-englisch.html