What’s in it for You? Come to Me

Last week I shared the benefit I gained from meditating on a passage of scripture. Being an Enneagram core type 7 I thought it would be fun to encourage you to practice meditating on the same passage from Matthew 11. If you missed last week’s post you can read it here.

Wondering what version you found most resonant for your study of Matthew 11:28-30?

This week we begin looking at the passage one phrase at a time.  I promise you this: if all you do is meditate on each phrase for a week, allowing the words to weave through your thoughts and permeate your mind, the passage will be memorized and taken to heart in a new way without a lot of trying to memorize!

“Come to Me”

This can be read with an inflection of a parent to a wandering child: Come to Me!

In this way it takes on a command. An imperative telling you what to do.

In fact, the Greek word for come in this case is deute and is just that, a command. But if we only look at that word definition and then say Jesus is demanding our attention, our obedience, then we are taking the word away from the intent and limiting the full impact of the passage.

I have heard teaching that has done just that. I will tell you that way of seeing is incomplete and taken out of context.  Let’s go deeper.

“Come to Me.”

In it’s full contextual setting, this phrase is an invitation.

An invitation to be. To be with. To be with Jesus.

*sigh*

A place of relief. As we will continue to see, a place of rest.

This links in my head with several other passages of Scripture that I’ll just give references to:

Ps 23; Ps. 46:10; Ps. 91:1-2; Isaiah 26:3 just to name a few.

This phrase is spoken by the Good Shepherd who sees His weary, burdened flock and feels compassion for them.

Jesus, walking from the upper room after the last supper up toward the garden of Gethsemane pauses, looks back over Jerusalem and says

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”

Jesus gave an invitation to come to Him. He was rejected.

Where do you find yourself today with that invitation? 

For those without the Savior, it is equivalent to a call to believe in Him.

For those who are already believers, it is a call to follow Him as a committed disciple; it is a call to completely turn their lives over to Him.

Here’s some more digging deeper:

“To” is the preposition pros, a preposition expressing close proximity and intimate fellowship. It is used of the fellowship of the Son with the Father.

We have here a call to an intimacy of fellowship.

“Me” is a personal pronoun, me. Note that the Pharisees basically said, “do as we say, obey our system,” but the Lord Jesus said, “come to me.”

What’s His Point?

This is one of the great concepts of Christianity that must be taught and grasped. Christianity is a relationship with the person of Jesus Christ. This is not a call to a program, nor a system of religion, nor to a church, and certainly… Click To Tweet

Too often disciple-makers end up cloning subordinates rather than helping people develop Christ-likeness. They draw people to themselves and reproduce graven images. In essence, they say, “agree with me, think like me, dress like me, teach like I do, act like me, and you will have success, or have a successful ministry.”

While God uses churches, people, and theological systems, Christianity is intended to be an intimate, personal relationship with the Lord Jesus.

Lots to ponder in three words.

As you ponder, I’d love to hear your musings. Perhaps this stirs up questions you’d like to have a safe space to explore. Any comment or question you post can remain private if you let me know. Your comments here don’t automatically post; I read them first!