Work and rest

 Why are we so often tired and weary?

As a human, did Jesus feel tired and weary at times?

Jesus is sleeping in the boat during a storm. 

Matthew 8:23-24 „Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep”

Jesus rests at Jacob's well.

John 4:3-6 „He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour”

 Ellen White „Desire of Ages” chapter 31 „Sermon on the Mount”

„The ideal of Christian character is Christlikeness. As the Son of man was perfect in His life, so His followers are to be perfect in their life. Jesus was in all things made like unto His brethren. He became flesh, even as we are. He was hungry and thirsty and weary. He was sustained by food and refreshed by sleep. He shared the lot of man; yet He was the blameless Son of God. He was God in the flesh. His character is to be ours”

As a man, Jesus was different from us only in that he never sinned. He was subject to the same constraints as we are.

Was that God's plan for us? Did Adam and Eve's life in the Garden of Eden look like our lives today? Was the work they did before sin as tedious as the work they did after their fall?

Will the work that will be done by those who are saved and find themselves in Heaven and then on the New Earth make them weary and overworked?

When God created the first humans, work was an integral part of their lives. 

Genesis 1:26-28 „Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth”

People were to rule the world that God had created for them. Among other things, the likeness of God was that they were to rule over this world in the same way that God rules over all that he created. The basis of God's rule is to serve. 

Matthew 20:26 „Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant”

This kind of rulership involves work which consists in meeting the needs of those who are under such authority. Such work does not make you feel tired or discouraged, it is rather a source of joy. Thus, work is food for the soul, and it is a desirable food.

When Jesus met the Samaritan woman and told her he was the Messiah,

John 4:28-32 „The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Then they went out of the city and came to Him. In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know. Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work”

Jesus compared his work to food. Satisfying hunger is a natural need of every human being. Nobody thinks of eating as unpleasant, difficult and tedious. Satisfying hunger is something that gives pleasure and joy.

God created humans for this kind of work. Such work in the perfect world in which Adam and Eve originally lived could be combined with physical exertion leading to fatigue, but not exhaustion. A night's rest (sleep) was sufficient for people to start their work the next day without feeling the slightest sign of fatigue. And most importantly, this job was not mentally exhausting. Adam and Eve did not need the Sabbath as a special time for physical rest from the hardships of the week they had worked. They only needed a night to remove their fatigue after a working day. Each morning they woke up with full strength, not feeling the effects of the work done the day before.

It changed after the sin.

Genesis 3:17-19 „Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return”

After the fall of Adam and Eve, their work changed. People started doing things that Adam and Eve hadn't done before sin. It is these additional "activities" that make us feel "labor and heavy burden", not only physically, but above all mentally. These are feelings Adam and Eve did not know while they were working in the Garden of Eden.

Matthew 11:28 „Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”

In the original Greek, the word labor is a verb that means hard and arduous work, toil, work that can only be done with great, superhuman effort. This verb applies not only to physical work, but also to mental work, so it results in fatigue not only of the body but also of the spirit.

Jesus is talking about the effects of this "new" work that Adam and Eve did not know until they sinned. It is this "new" job that is a heavy burden for us. Jesus speaks of work that is associated with a hard and tedious duty rather than with something pleasant. Jesus says that the natural instinct of a person doing such work is a desire to rest, a desire to leave that job for a while, a desire to detach himself from the hardships of this job. The result of this work is fatigue which can only be removed through a special rest that man can only receive from Him.

Were we born to do this job?

The fourth commandment tells us:

Exodus 20:9-10 „Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates”

The word "labor" here translates the Hebrew verb "abad", the meaning of which is not only "to work" but also "to serve."

Is this work that God mentions in the fourth commandment the same work that Jesus speaks of in Matthew 11:28?

It turns out not. The fourth commandment speaks of different kinds of work, but not necessarily connected with strenuous effort that destroys not only the body but also the mind. Each work is associated with effort and fatigue, but not all of them lead to excessive exhaustion, destroying human health and sometimes even life. Moreover, the work mentioned in the fourth commandment includes the element of voluntary service to others. Its purpose is primarily to meet the needs of other people and creatures. Its purpose is the same as that of what God does every day. By doing such work, man reveals a character similar to character of God. For a person who is similar to God in character, the performance of such work is primarily a source of joy and satisfaction, and not a cause for dissatisfaction and frustration.

This situation changed after the sin. God told Adam that his work would become hard and strenuous because of his sin.

„In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread”

Was it due to changes in nature? "Thorns and thistles" appeared, sin very quickly brought about death. Some animals have become aggressive and dangerous to other animals as well as to humans. Nature was no longer as friendly as it was at the beginning, and with time, more and more "natural" disasters and catastrophes began to occur. But it is not only for this reason that human work has become exhausting, arduous and tiring. 

The main reason was the changes that took place in people's hearts. Under the influence of temptations, people began to fill their hearts with various lusts, and these lusts began to push people to satisfy them. More and more, people began to satisfy their desires that they did not have before. In this way, Satan deceives people, tempting them to lead a life that is the opposite of the way God planned for us. Satan tries to change us into selfish people in various ways. He deceives us with a vision of a wonderful life where all our desires will be fulfilled. He deceives us by telling us that as soon as we reach a certain level of development, a level that seems to be almost at our fingertips; then we will begin to feel completely happy. However, this is not true because selfishness cannot lead to happiness and freedom. Selfishness makes us more and more slaves to our unhealthy and unnatural lusts, unnatural because they are not of God.

1 John 2:15-16 „Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father but is of the world”

God knew all of this before He created the world. He knew that mankind would fall and humans would become slaves to sin, slaves to their own lusts. And He has prepared a special plan to free us from this slavery. Our slavery is the result of our decisions. We have free will and we make the decisions. We voluntarily become slaves to sin, but the more we bind ourselves to sin, the more difficult it is for us to let go of that sin. And that is why our life is so often filled with hardship and toil, not so much physical as mental. We are "labor and heavy burden". God, wanting to help us, reveals the Truth to us, the only Truth that can make us free and give us relief. 

The only effective help is to show us fallen people a different life, a life filled with love. God helps us by giving us the opportunity to see how this other life tastes like. Each of us has a chance to feel this taste and make a conscious choice between the current life, full of “thorns and thistles”, and a life full of happiness and joy. Only the right choice can give a man a real "rest".

Matthew 11:28 „Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”

The point is not that we know what to do to get the "rest", but that we want that "rest". It is about such a desire, for example, felt by a man who has known and loved a woman with all his heart, but who, for various reasons, sees no chance to connect with her. However, this does not discourage him, and although he sees no chance of realizing his dream, he remains in this desire.

Such an opportunity for every person is also the Sabbath, a special day that God established when completing the process of creating the world. 

Genesis 2:2-3 „And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made”

The Sabbath is an opportunity for those who are "labor and heavy burden" and do not see a chance for themselves to get a "rest", and yet they want it with all their hearts. They desire this special rest.

The rest.

How did God rest on the seventh day, when he finished creating the world? Did God rest the same way we rest after work?

God is spirit (John 4:24), but we are material, carnal. Our physical bodies, tired with the work done, require rest. At the end of each day, we have the opportunity to rest when we go to sleep. God does not feel these effects of His work because He is spirit. He does not need sleep, and God never sleeps (Psalm 121:4). Moreover, God works all the time (John 5:17). So what was God's rest after completing the creation of the world? It was a spiritual rest.

How do we spend our free time setting aside all the work we do for the six days of the week? Isn't it that we rest best by spending time with those we love? The way we spend our free time is not the most important thing, the most important thing is who we spend this time with. This is how God rested the seventh day, spent that day with those He loved before creating them. God's rest is spiritual rest. This is the most important reason for instituting the Sabbath, giving us the opportunity to spend time with the One who loves us and whom we say we love Him. The first Sabbath should be a model for us to make proper use of this special day, the Sabbath day. This day is a day of true rest, but only for those who love God, because only they feel true joy in God's presence and only they truly rest in His presence.

Love for God changes our lives in the same way that love for a woman changes a man's life. First of all, for such a man his beloved is the most important person in the world. Secondly, it becomes natural to him that he likes what his beloved likes and does not like what his beloved does not like. In terms of priorities, interests and desires, he becomes similar to the one he loves. And at the same time, he rejects what is in conflict with the priorities, interests and desires of his beloved. What he does, he does with his beloved in mind. What he does is not "an unpleasant yoke and a heavy burden" for him. The yoke of love in which he began to walk is pleasing to him; and the burden of love he carries on him is not at all heavy for him. 

As a human, why was Jesus tired and exhausted?

Jesus' fatigue had a purely physical aspect. Jesus' body had the same limitations as our bodies have. However, physical fatigue has never translated into spiritual or mental fatigue. Jesus always felt the joy of doing what was His Father's will, and never felt the urge to stop, even for a moment, from his activities. After a mostly short rest, he enthusiastically continued his work, or rather the work of his Father. 

Physical rest was important to Jesus, but he did not focus on this type of rest, he limited it to the minimum necessary. He used every possible moment for the spiritual rest, which was for Jesus to spend time with his Father in prayer.

Jesus should be the perfect model for us. Our lives should be like that of Jesus in all aspects. However, the most important thing is not that we do what Jesus did, but that we do the same for the same reason that Jesus did. If we build our likeness to Jesus by doing what Jesus did; we will never be like him. We can only obtain such a likeness by loving Him. We can be like Jesus, when we love Him with love that is ready to sacrifice everything in order not to disappoint and hurt the One who loved us before He created us.

It is thanks to such love that everyone who is "labor and heavy burden" comes to Jesus and He gives him “rest”.