In Jesus Holy Name July 9, 2023
Text: Matthew 11:28 & 30 Pentecost VI - Redeemer
“Choose: Yoked by Rules or Follow Jesus”
These words of Jesus are popular: “Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke, and learn from me, and you will find rest for your souls. My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
These words of Jesus challenge us to answer two questions: Is forgiveness from broken commandments something that I must do to have a balanced scale…some sins are erased if I do good deeds and thus balance the scales of life? The 2nd question: Is God’s love and heaven earned by keeping rules or trusting Jesus.
In my opinion this is not such an easy text, and I struggled with it all week. What kind of “rest” is Jesus talking about? Is it rest from physical labor? Is it rest from the ordinary burdens of life. There will be the burdens of illness, financial burdens, family burdens that are ordinary results of living the human life. No, because Jesus has already told us that following Him can cause persecution and rejection.
The key word is “rest for your souls”. It is a spiritual issue not physical.
Jesus is talking about rest from the labor of trying to obey Jewish rules or current man made rules….that people develop in order to earn God’s love and a place in heaven. Look, it is in our human nature to be “good” especially in times of social instability. The entire Jewish religion was a “work righteous” religion was designed to help them be “good”. The Jewish religious leaders developed 1000’s of rules. They were designed to help you keep the Ten Commandments, thus by your own efforts, you would “please” God.
There were Kosher rules about life, and food. Rules about with whom you could associate with. For example Kosher meat, from specific animals, must be prepared in a specific way may never be served or eaten at the same meal as a dairy product. Furthermore, all utensils, plates, cups, silverware, used in the preparation of a meal or those used while eating a meal, must be kept separate — even down to the sinks in which they're washed. For example, grapes, or milk, or cheese made by non Jews could not be eaten. Jewish men could not touch the hand of a woman in public, not talk to one, nor could a Jewish physician touch a non Jewish person who was ill. You could not even walk on the property of a non Jew. Certain prayers must be said every day.
On the Sabbath you could not walk more than ¾ of a mile. You could not sew. You could not cook, nor wash out a cup or plate. You could not write, for that would be considered work. In Matthew 12 (read) just taking a head of wheat and rubbing the grain free was considered work. All rules were meant to keep yourself pure before God. But Jesus challenged their rules by reminding them they must clean the inside of their cup and not just look clean and polished on the outside. (Matthew 23)
Dallas Willard in his book “Divine Conspiracy writes: “The Jewish laws that people rubbed up against everyday was not the law of God. It was a list of religious rules, very harsh and oppressive in application.” Ultimately creating a religion that judged who was acceptable to God and who was not… P. 136 These are spiritual burdens that Jews believed they had to keep in order to please God and receive His blessings. The result… you never measured up. The burden was heavy. You always failed.
Jesus is saying, “yes” the “law” of God is good but we are not saved by keeping the law, for we cannot. Jesus said: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and Prophets” but to fulfill them.” Matthew 5:17
but He did, thus we should “yoke” ourselves to Him.
Notice that Jesus does not promise to take away the burdens, the trials, the sufferings. He is inviting us to stop believing that we can earn God’s love and forgiveness by keeping the Ten Commandments, which we know we can’t. We are invited to “yoke” ourselves to Him and His obedience. Jesus knows that we human beings deeply hunger to be good but cannot find our way. The Pharisees offered hundreds of rules… Their rules were a “yoke” that burdened every decision of life.
In Acts 10 there is the story of Peter who was given a vision by God regarding Jewish kosher rules of what one was allowed to eat. He was hungry and wanted something to eat and while the food was being prepared he had a vision. If you know the story…. all kinds of animals were on display before Peter and he was commanded to rise, kill and eat. He, of course strenuously objected.
God was breaking down walls of prejudice, Jewish rules about who was in the kingdom and who was to be excluded from God’s kingdom. Peter just could not keep his tongue quiet! The first thing Peter says when he arrives at the house of Cornelius is: “You know that it is against our law, our rules, I can not be in your presence, nor step into your house.” But God showed me it was a “yoke”, a burden of prejudice and that all my learning was wrong. Peter, then enters the house and tells the story of Jesus, His life, and death and resurrection and the Gentiles were no longer outside the kingdom of God. They must be accepted.
In Acts 15 during a debate over Jewish rules in Jerusalem with Pharisees:
Peter said: “..Why test God. Why put on the necks of these disciples a “yoke” neither we nor our fathers could bear?” No, Gentiles and Jews are saved by grace, and grace alone.
Jesus said: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light?” The metaphor of a yoke still calls us to follow and obey. Obedience to the words of Jesus are necessary if we call ourselves followers of Jesus. So how does that work? When two animals are “yoked” together they are “working” together to plow a field, or pull a load. That is true.
A yoke is a wooden crosspiece that is fastened over the necks of two animals so that they can pull a cart or pull a plow. Almost always the more experienced animal is yoked with a younger animal who is learning.
Jesus said “take my yoke”. Jesus did what we could not do… He fulfilled the “law” and prophets. He has carried the weight and burdened of the commandments. His obedience was perfect if we are “yoked” to Him, His obedience is transferred to us. Therefore our “spiritual” emptiness is not filled by man made rules but by the work, life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Paul writes: God has made peace, harmony and acceptance with Him possible through the perfect obedience of Jesus and his death on the cross. Jesus has made “peace available by His blood, shed on the cross. And now, God has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish, free from accusation…if you continue being “yoke” by faith in Jesus.
The Greek philosopher Plato once described human beings as “leaky jars” suggesting that as soon as we think we have finally “filled up” our life with something that will make us content and satisfied, we slowly start to feel empty again. We journey through life believing that just beyond the horizon we will finally find that elusive oasis of contentment, only to be disappointed by another mirage when we get there.”
The Pharisees created man made rules, the Kosher rules, that were meant to make one content, fulfilled and happy but you never arrive, because of the burden….we can not keep even man made rules.
It was the same burden Martin Luther felt as he tried to please God. He wrote: 'I was indeed a pious monk. If ever a monk could obtain heaven by his monkish works, I should certainly have been entitled to it.” He fasted, He took pilgrimages, He was burdened because he could not please God by his good works. The “yoke” of the monastery and church rules left Luther hopeless until he discovered “grace”.
“There is a righteousness from God apart from “law” (man made rules). This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…but we are justified by grace through the redemption of Jesus Christ.
The choice is yours. True: the commandments are still valid. They help create a civil society. We are to obey them. The words of Jesus to “love God, love and serve your neighbor”, and be good managers of His earth still remain.
A friend once told me that he took every job in the church. He volunteered, He worked harder at his secular job plus the responsibility at his church. He was trying to please God and earn God’s respect and love. It was a burden. Then he said: “I discovered “grace”. Jesus did it all. Jesus offers “rest for our souls”
