“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28
In the classic tale The Pilgrim’s Progress, the main character, Christian, carries a heavy burden on his back. Though his wife and friends can’t see it, he feels it all the time. It constantly weighs on him and makes his journey to the Celestial City much more slow and difficult. He slogs under the weight of it.
Until he encounters the cross.
When Christian comes to the cross, something happens. His burden suddenly falls from his back and tumbles all the way down the hill into the mouth of a sepulchre. It is gone forever.
In his joy Christian exclaims, “He hath given me rest, by his sorrow; and life, by his death.”[1]
Christian can’t help but stare in wonder at the cross. And as he stands there, looking and weeping, “it was very surprising to him, that the sight of the Cross should thus ease him of his burden.”[2]
As fellow Christian “pilgrims,” it is also often very surprising to us that the cross would free us from our burdens. And yet it does.
When we look to Christ, high and lifted up on the cross, we see the love of God on full display,[3] as he gave his only Son to bear our greatest burden—the burden of our sin. A burden no one else would bear, or could.
This heavy burden that would have crushed us, that should have crushed us, crushed Jesus instead. On the cross.
“But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities.” (Isa. 53:5)
On the cross, Jesus took our burden and carried it on his own back as he lugged the heavy cross up the hill.
“Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows.” (v. 4)
“and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all” (v. 6).
The burden Christ bore was so crushing we cannot even comprehend it. Like Christian, we can only cover our mouths and stare, standing and weeping over the love of our Saviour Jesus. For it is “with his wounds we are healed” (v. 5).
If you’ve been carrying a heavy burden, or if you are bearing a burden that Christ has not asked you to bear—it’s time to let him carry it for you. Lift your eyes to the cross of Christ.
As you look to him, high and lifted up, it is here your burden falls. And tumbles down the hill, to be gone forever.
It is here you find rest in his sorrow, and life in his death.[4]
For he says,
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matt. 11:28–30)
Notes
[1] John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1977), 36.
[2] Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress, 36.
[3] I was first introduced to this concept in the book God Shines Forth, by Michael Reeves and Daniel Hames, which I recommend for further study on the subject.
[4] Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress, 36.
