Kyle Dresback

Dear Friends,

About halfway through today’s Gospel reading, I was struck with a vivid memory of reading this passage in my teens and how differently I read it then compared to now:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. —Matthew 11: 28

Almost every word had a specific meaning in my teenage brain and though the words remain the same, the images that spring to my adult mind are quite different.

That got me wondering how the faithful from different times and places might read Jesus’ evocative invitation in this passage. What might Jesus mean by “come to me?” What image springs to mind when he speaks of those who “labor” and are “heavy laden?” How does his “rest” feel? Consider how different their readings might be in their different contexts:

A Christian in a 2nd-century house church hearing these words under Roman persecution might find a certain “rest” and hope in her tangible participation in Jesus’ suffering.

A medieval monastic might find this same “rest” in his daily prayer, study, and labor as part of a well-ordered community withdrawn from the chaos of the world.

An eastern mystic might respond to Jesus’ call to “come to me” with the practice of contemplative prayer, and through it, the soul’s union with a transcendent God.

A pious evangelical during the Protestant Reformation might celebrate God’s grace through faith in Jesus over and against the “heavy laden” striving of works-based righteousness.

A participant in the Catholic Worker Movement might hear Jesus’ words “come to me” and seek to extend that invitation to the marginalized who are the victims of social injustice.

I imagine some of these responses may feel intuitive to us and others less so. But consider that, just like you and me, each of these individuals are both inheritors of and pioneers in a rich and varied tradition in the Church of asking simply, “How do we follow Jesus today?”

This tradition has taken many forms over the centuries and by God’s grace it will continue to take many more. How fortunate we are that when we seek to learn about and practice following Jesus in community we can draw from such a deep well.

In Christ,

—Kyle