Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30

Matthew himself had been an unlikely candidate to come to Jesus, let alone become one of Jesus’ disciples. Earlier, before Matthew met Jesus he had probably heard John the Baptist preach and been baptized by John (Luke 3:12-13). Jesus came by Matthew’s place of work and asked him to follow Him. Matthew left all and followed Jesus.

Even though Matthew may have had money, think of some of the ways in which Matthew was heavy laden. He was from a despised group of publicans. The Jews did not like publicans because they were Jews who worked for the Romans and often defrauded their fellow Jews. They had a bad reputation which was mostly justified. Matthew must have brought his pride, guilt, shame, remorse, anger, etc. to Jesus. Jesus gave him rest.

When Matthew wrote his gospel, he lets us know of Jesus healing people, but the first individual that Matthew tells us of is a most extreme case, a leper (Matthew 8:1-4). There was no medical treatment for leprosy. It was a terrible disease in which the body gradually rotted away until the person died. The person was socially ostracized. He could not live inside a city with walls. It was illegal even to greet a leper. Lepers could not attend religious services of any kind. They lived lonely, hopeless lives.

Somehow this desperate leper made his way through a crowd and came to Jesus. He asked Jesus to make him clean (cure him of his leprosy). Jesus touched this leper and made him clean. If Jesus could be there for Matthew and this leper, He is there for you.  No matter how extreme your burdens are, Jesus wants to touch your life. Jesus will not turn away anyone who humbly comes to Him.

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