(12 of 12)
Given the gleaming confidence of those words, and in light of the appalling failings of Jesus' followers, that last command goes on contributing heavily to the evils of national and religious warfare, institutional and individual hatred, imperialism and enslavement--and all in the name of a teacher who, to our knowledge, never refused a single person who approached him honestly. Yet alongside that havoc, and in the same two millenniums, Jesus' meaning has resulted in the most far-reaching movements of mercy, tolerance and human freedom and in the high-water marks of Western art. His words in Matthew 11 still extend their old welcome--"Come unto me, all ye that labor 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." Such a deep-rooted promise seems unlikely to relent.