Matthew 11:28-30: A General Call of the Gospel?

²⁸ “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Calvinists say that Matthew 11:28-30 is a perfect example of a general call of the Gospel to all people, regardless of their spiritual condition. It is the nasty ‘hyper-Calvinists’ who twist these verses saying that no one but the elect are called by Jesus. Who is right? Who is wrong? Let’s look at the context.

Chapter 11 of Matthew begins with John the Baptist asking of Jesus whether he was the Messiah. He replies by stating that his many healings and miracles are proof of his credentials (11:1-5). John the Baptist did not have entirely the correct image of Christ. He demonstrated his credentials by his miraculous healings and by preaching the Gospel to the poor. Jesus concludes with a division of sorts, “ “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me” ” (v6).

            Still on the theme of John the Baptist, we then read about Jesus’ interaction with the crowd (11:7-15). The Jews came in droves to see John the Baptist, a prophet, but more than a prophet- the one who would prepare the way of the Lord, according to the promise in Malachi 3:1. No prophet up until the time of Jesus was greater than John. Jesus then asked the Jews if they had the spiritual hearing to accept Jesus’ message. His comment ends, “ “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” ” (11:14-15). What is the implication of this appeal? Is this a general call to all the Jews who were listening? By no means! He is calling upon those who have “ears” and he is asking THEM to listen. In other words, there are those who have spiritual ears and those who do not.

            Jesus then takes to task the Jews (11:16-19). Why does he do this? The implication should be clear: they do not have spiritual hearing! How do we know this? Well, because they rejected John the Baptist, the greatest of prophets (11:18); and worse than this, they rejected the Son of Man, whom John spoke about (11:19). It was a generation of petulant, spoiled children, whining and complaining, making up lies!

            In 11:20-24, Jesus denounces the Jewish cities that rejected him. He goes as far to say that the Jewish cities were worse in their attitude than historic Gentile cities, such as Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom- some awfully rotten cities! The Jews rejected Jesus’ miracles, but those Gentile cities would never have done so!

            Having divided between true hearers and false hearers, between the Jews who rejected him and those who listened to him, Jesus then makes his famous prayer in Matthew 11:25-27. Who are the wise and intelligent but the Jews who are arrogant and all-knowing? Who are the infants but those who listen and have spiritual ears? He came to call sinners, not righteous ones. God the Father did not reveal himself to these unrighteous, arrogant ones; but he did reveal himself to the “infants”. It is then that Jesus says, “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” You cannot get to know the Father except through the Son, and you cannot get to know the Son except the Son reveals himself to you. But, bear in mind, he will reveal himself only to infants.

            It is then that we come to Matthew 11:28-30. Let’s read it again, but with the previous context in mind:

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

In the wider context, the burdened and heavy laden cannot possibly be the Jews in general. The burden and heavy laden are the equivalent of those who “hear,” that is, the “little children”, who are not “wise and learned”. The burdened and heavy laden are those who discern who the Messiah is, as revealed in his miracles, as proclaimed in his preaching. In context, Jesus’ gentleness and humbleness are not extended to indiscriminately to all men. This is most important to understand. Jesus reveals himself only to infants. Thus, gentleness and humbleness will be revealed to those who have spiritual ears to learn from Jesus, and it is quite certain that the Jews in general did not learn from, or know, Jesus the spiritual teacher. His yoke and his burden are light for those who follow him and listen to him. There is no yoke for those who reject him. Consequently, Jesus’ declaration is not directed to all people in general, but merely to those who are burdened and weary, namely, the little children who know him by faith.

So, who’s right, the hyper-Calvinist or the Calvinist? The thrust of Matthew 11, especially verses 28-30, is the same theology found in Mark 2:17; Matthew 9:11-13; Luke 5:31-32, where Jesus specifically states that he did not come to heal the healthy, but only those that were sick. On those occasions, the context is not a general call to all people. Rather, the Gospel, and Christ’s ministry, discriminates, separating one group from another. It is true that Jesus’ words, in Matthew 11:28-30, were made in the hearing of many, but they were directed to a special group: the spiritual hearing, the spiritually weary. Does this mean that the hyper-Calvinist reading is correct? Theologically, one can argue that only those who were chosen to salvation, in Christ, from eternity, come to faith in him. So, loosely speaking, we can say that Jesus was calling forth the elect in Christ only. But this is not really the point of Matthew 11; it is dealing with reactions to the ministry of Christ: some reject him, some accept him; some are deaf spiritually, some listen spiritually; some are not weary spiritually, some are weary spiritually. Election per se is not the issue, but whether someone is a true hearer. We do not read Jesus saying, “Father, I thank you that you have chosen some to eternal life, and they heard my message.” Instead, Jesus’ prayer concentrates upon his reaction to those who reject his miracles and Gospel; and he thanks the Father that only the humble receive the revelation of the Father through the Son. The context is not, therefore, eternal election; nor is Jesus’ prayer rooted in eternal election. In conclusion, neither group- Calvinist, or hyper-Calvinist- is correct. Jesus does not preach to all people in Matthew 11:28-30, but to a type of hearer: the weary. Nor does Jesus call upon the elect; rather, he calls forth those who are burdened and sick.