Articles

Weariness is like the weather-it affects everyone, and there's no escape from it. It hits us all, at least occasionally, and sometimes it enshrouds us like a wet blanket. It's rarely any fun, but it can have a redemptive value. It doesn't have to be utterly frustrating, for it can be sanctifying.

Weariness played such an important part in the life of our Blessed Lord that we must conclude that God has a special compassion and love for those who are heavily burdened. Perhaps this is why Christ made Himself the personal refreshment of those in need of rest. "Come to Me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest." Weariness played such an important part in the life of our Blessed Lord that we must conclude that God has a special compassion and love for those who are heavily burdened. Perhaps this is why Christ made Himself the personal refreshment of those in need of rest. "Come to Me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest."

Most of us labor, practically all of us are burdened, but too many of us fail to get refreshment demanded by the human spirit because we fail to go to Christ. Yet, He offered his invitation to all. Our Lord was more than a man acquainted with weariness; He was a God who told us and showed us how to use it well.

When Christ spoke of weariness He spoke as One who had been its constant companion through-out His life. Not just three years of exhausting public missionary work of preaching, healing, comforting and admonishing. Not just three hours of agonizing weariness on the cross. But a lifetime of thirty-three years with very few moments free from work or suffering.

How many times He must have been bone-tired by the four-day walk on the hot and dusty highway between Galilee and Judea. The Gospel mentions how weary He was when He rested at the well at Sichar. Imagine how exhausted He was the time He was sleeping in the boat during the storm on the sea of Galilee. You have to be pretty tired to sleep through a storm that frightened tough fishermen like the Apostles!

How wearied He must have been after His agonizing prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was the vision of our sins and the preview of His suffering that caused this exhaustion. And what about that seemingly unending trek along the Way of the Cross...why He must have felt as though the weariness of all humanity was poured into his very bones and muscles.

Any scientist or doctor can tell you that the most fiendish test of a man's ability to withstand weariness is the cruelty called crucifixion. This grueling torture annihilates a man's energies and completely exhausts his body's resources. Yet again the God-man didn't hesitate to pour out His life's blood through His five precious wounds that we might be refreshed with the life of God.

Our greatest cross is not in being tired, or weary, or burdened with the trials of this life. It's in failing to use them well, in being ignorant of the true source of refreshment and peace, in failing to go to Christ when we need Him most. He can only give us rest if we approach Him with faith and confidence. It's the kind of rest and relaxation that the world cannot give!

He invited you to escape the tensions of the modern age when He said: "Come into a quiet place and rest a while." He did much more. He asked you to make Him a part of that refreshment of body and soul that we must all have: "Come to Me...and I will refresh you." Weariness is redemptive when borne for love of God. It will never crush you when shared with Christ. Why not share it with Him...and bear it for Him?