This sermon was preached on Sunday 5th July 2026. You can watch this sermon here.

Bible Reading: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-end

Put your hands up this morning if you are feeling tired. Okay, that’s quite a number of us. I am so tired. Baby hasn’t even arrived yet, and I feel so, so tired. I think a lot of the tiredness has come from getting ready for the baby. There are things you need to get ready, getting stocked up, learning about the whole birthing process, going to antenatal appointments, and preparing to become parents. Alongside this, Cecily and I have been trying to push through our work to do lists to get stuff done before the Baby arrives. 

Today is Cecily’s last day of work before going on maternity leave, and so there has been a huge push to get her to-do list cleared before she wraps up. Then, every time Cecily has her Braxton Hicks, I am having the internal panic of ‘have I got all the church stuff done that I want to do before Baby comes?’ Gosh, it’s all feeling rather exhausting, and do you know what’s the worst part? Baby isn’t even here yet, so we haven’t even got started. The tiredness is only going to become worse. 

I don’t say all this because I want sympathy or a ‘poor Shakeel.’ I say this because I want you to know where I have been when I sat down to write this sermon late at night, when Jesus said to me:

“Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke and put it on you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit; and you will find rest. For the yoke I will give you is easy, and the load I will put on you is light.”

I read this and was floored by Jesus words to me. Not just the content of the words but the timing. ‘Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.’ 

How many of us feel tired and exhausted by all the stuff in life that is weighing on us?  Family, work, health, finances, church, etc. They are all good things, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t all weigh heavily on us. We can all relate to this. In fact, we usually put more time, energy, and soul into the things that matter most to us, like family. 

So often, when we are tired, the people around us say, ‘You are tired. You need to rest.’ But you can’t rest because you resting doesn’t relieve any of the problems that need addressing. You can’t say, ‘I am tired, so I am just going to forget about making the kids’ dinner tonight.’ That needs to happen, or the kids don’t eat. Nor does it feel like anyone can resolve the problems for us. The weight of the responsibility falls completely on us. 

In reality, there are usually people to whom we can turn for help and to share the load. Family and friends usually want to help where they can. But often the biggest hurdle is not finding help, but letting go of our burdens and responsibilities. We struggle with the worry of what will happen if I don’t do it. Can I trust others to help? Am I a failure as a parent, child, employee, boss, or friend if I let go and rest for a moment? Even if you do let go, the rest evades you, and nothing can still your heart and give you that peace. 

But there is somewhere we can find peace. Actually, it’s someone: Jesus. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the Prince of Peace, says come to me and I will give you rest.

When I am tired, Jesus says, ‘Come to me.’ He opens his arms wide to pull me into his embrace, then takes the heavy load off my shoulders, and lays me down in green pastures to rest. He addresses our worries by saying that we are not simply neglecting our responsibilities in order to rest. Rather, we are handing it over to someone we can trust and rely upon. He says, ‘Give your burdens and worries over to me. I will carry them; I will see them through.’ If Jesus says so, we know these things will happen because we can always trust Jesus. 

Moreso, Jesus goes further than this and wants to help you feel able to let go. He says, ‘You might not feel strong enough, but trust in my strength to see them through and to hold you through it.’ 

Jesus wants to teach and shape us into people who take his easy yoke upon us. To clarify, a yoke is not the golden centre of an egg, as yummy as that is, but a yoke is the wooden crossbar placed upon animals to help them pull a heavy load, such as a plough. A yoke usually results in hard work for the farm animals, but Jesus gives us a yoke that is easy to pull, and the load we are given to pull is not heavy but light. 

Did you know that Jesus calls us to a life that feels easy and restful? To clarify, that does not mean life isn’t hard or that responsibilities don’t weigh heavily upon us. But Jesus will be there with us to help us carry the heavy loads, if only we let him.

Take a moment and think of the holiest Christians you know. When I ask this question, the thing that strikes me the most about these holy people is that they are always so calm and joyful. They are never in a rush or worried. I’ve met some of these people when they are facing terminal illnesses or have lost their jobs, and they seem completely happy and carefree in all of this. You are awestruck and amazed. How can they be like this? The reason is that they have come to Jesus and found his rest. They have found that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. They have found the person whom they can trust to give over our burdens and responsibilities, not because they stop mattering to us, but because Jesus is the one in control and taking care of everything. 

As a priest, I feel a huge weight and responsibility. I feel that every week when I stand up to preach. Will I speak God’s word? Will I help people draw closer to God? Will I avoid saying anything incorrect or heretical? There is so much to do, how can I get everything done? What happens if I let someone down? The weight can be heavy. 

But do you know what helps me? When I say to Jesus, I trust everything to you. I will try my best as a priest and as a preacher. But I am trusting you to help me say the right things, to take the right steps, and to bring everything into place. When I give it over to Jesus, I feel lighter and full of his joy and peace. When I don’t give it over to him, I feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders. It sounds like an exaggeration, but I think each of us has felt like that at some point. But we don’t need to carry on feeling this way. We can come to Jesus, and he will give us rest. 

Come to Jesus. It doesn’t have to be complicated. There is not a set way to come to Jesus. But if you are not sure how to come to Jesus, or maybe you are doing it for the first time, then try this simple prayer:  ‘Jesus, I come to you. Help me to give over my heavy load to you. Let me find the rest that is found in you. Amen’

Let us come to Jesus this week, give our lives over to him, to find his peace in our hearts. Jesus says to each of us: ‘Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.’ 

Amen.