Cast all your cares to Jesus.

Good morning, happy Thursday, and many blessings.

This gospel on trusting God, Matthew 11:28-30, is the focus to teach that we can’t measure up on our own. However, by trusting in God, we can measure up to all he intends for us. In other words, cast all your cares upon him 

Jesus' first word is "come". The verb "come" is an imperative. It is required and not requested, mandatory and non-negotiable. Surprisingly, it is an order and not an offer, prescribed and not preferred, a directive that cannot be deferred, a command and not a contingency, a mandate, and a must. Come means not to hesitate, hurt, or hide. It means go to Him, give it up, and get His help. It is more than merely with legs, lips, and body, but with heart, mind, soul, and strength.

Who does Jesus have in mind? The weary is derived from trouble (Matt 26:10), labors (John 4:38), weariness (2 Cor ‪11:23‬, 27). It means to be stressed, sad, and suffering. Burden comes from luggage or load, cargo, and shipment. Weary is the being, and burdened is the belongings. The promise is to all because the two participles (weary, burdened) are plural. These are people who are heavy-hearted, heartbroken and helpless. There are also others with burdens that weighed them down, wear them off, and wipe them out. Nobody can help them, nowhere to hide, nothing to heal them or the result is you either bottle up, burn out, or break down.

“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.”   In love Jesus calls to you and me, burdened with daily life, burdened with the question “why”. Don’t think for one minute that Jesus is talking to someone else here, he is making this offer directly to you and me. Jesus made a point during his earthly ministry to lift the heavy burdens the people he met were carrying.

What burdens do you carry today? What does Scripture designate as burdens? Jesus came to carry your burdens and mine. Hear His kind, loving invitation to you. “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Literally the invitation “Come” can be rendered, “Come here; come now.” This is a kind, gentle invitation of Jesus to anyone who is “weary and burdened” to come to him now. It is an urgent invitation that calls for immediate obedience and response without a moment of hesitation, delay, or postponement until “some more convenient day.” Are you weary and burdened with care today? Jesus lovingly invites you to “Come here to Him right now, and He will give you rest.”

Blessings

Fr. Luis+