Yoked! - Three Verbs
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At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.
27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
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.”
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Yoked in
Personal Invitation
When I was at school I was taught that verbs were ‘doing’ or ‘action’ words. There are several ‘action words’ in these few words of Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30. I would like to take three of these verbs to get deeper into this passage today.
Take my Yoke. Learn from me. Come to me.
Take my Yoke.
We are not talking about egg yolks; so no ‘eggstra’ funny jokes today. I did hear that the cooks in the kitchen are funny here. They crack Yolks. In fact, the cook dropped all the eggs on her foot this morning – the Yolks on her.
OK, no more egg jokes – you’ll crack up.
Three Verbs
Take - Learn - Come
Take
Did you know Jesus has prepared a yoke for you? I wonder how you feel about that. A yoke that ties you into Jesus, a yoke that means there's always someone with you. If you are rebellious, you don't like the sound of it - I am my own person, make my own choices, do whatever I like. That's human nature.
In the words of Fleetwood Mac
“You can go your own way, you can call it another lonely day, go you own way.”
Go your own way and you find there are lots of yokes out there. Debt. Drink. Greed. Drugs. Porn. Religion. Self. Your own way – that’s a yoke in itself – by nature, you are born with the yoke of self - Self is Lord. Jesus is Lord is not just a chorus of praise – it’s his identity, who he is. Who would you rather be yoked to Self or Jesus?
The Bible is clear we can’t be yokeless.
You may say, I don't have a yoke, I'm a good person, no vices: I don't smoke, don't drink, don't wear cosmetics (to quote my mother-in-law). Maybe your yoke is striving to be good, religion is a yoke, trying to please God by praying and rituals - not every yoke is sinful. But even religious practices can become a burden.
That was what was going on with the people Jesus was talking to. The Pharisees had burdened them with hundreds of extra rules and rituals to be clean or worthy of going to worship in the temple. They had lost sight of the fact that the commandments in the bible are there to bring us near to God. Their rules had become an end in itself.
Jesus said take my yoke, it is easy, not because being a Christian is easier, but because being tied in with, and knowing the person of Jesus is easy and light. When I do that I realize what a difference it makes, to be tied in with Jesus, to have someone that's always with you.
On 30th May 1979 on the steel slopes of Honister Pass I heard an audible voice ‘I am with you always.’ Words from Matthew 28:20. Friends, his yoke is easy, my yoke is heavy and the Lord Jesus says ‘Let’s do a swap.’ You take mine and I’ll take yours.
Nobody knows your troubles, you wake up and it’s there, all day it is with you and you go to sleep with those troubles. John 17:33 it says ‘In this world you will have troubles but fear not I have overcome the world.’ John 14 begins, ‘Let not your heart be troubled – believe in me.’
The Lord pleads with us, Jesus wants to free you.
Learn
Learn from me.
[1]Learn what I have said, in the Gospels, learn how the scriptures point to Jesus – Learn by being yoked with Jesus. This is a picture of the yoke two Ox would have born across their ‘withers.’ The mature Ox paired with the novice and the senior Ox takes the burden and shows the way. What a picture of learning from Jesus. To be yoked with Jesus is not a burden, it is a joy.
[2] Learn what I have done for you. Every other religion says strive to do more, good deeds, more prayer, more serving, more study but Jesus says if you learn from him you will find REST for your souls. Learn that I have done it all for you, taken sin & shame on the cross, bore our sickness in his body, defeated death – resurrection life. Redeemed. Released.
You will find rest. There is rest of forgiveness, rest of repentance – confessing. Rest from condemnation, the rest of Grace. Trusting that Jesus is all I need. Three towns in this chapter Capernaum, Khorzin Bethsaida failed to repent, to turn to God.
Learn from me says Jesus.
Education is under attack these days – debates about tests, curriculum, and teaching methods. Then there are strikes, parents and pupils challenging teachers’ authority, but ask anyone if they can remember their inspiring teacher and they will usually have an answer.
For Mo Farrar, it was Alan Watkinson. For me, it was Barbara Burgess. Who was yours? You learn from them not by what they say but by knowing them, by their care and compassion, their going the ‘extra mile.’
Barbara Burgess story; my Maths teacher was maimed and scarred as a result of an IRA bomb in Belfast. She returned after a year-long recovery - she glowed as a Christian. It had a huge effect on me.
Like the inspiring teacher, Jesus says learn from me, who he is (all authority is given to him (v27)), what he is like (gentle and lowly). Knowing Him is much more than words and rules it is a daily walk, reading the Word (Bible), worship and adoring, regular quiet times (QT).
Come
The third verb, COME to me
Notice this is a very personal invitation – come to me. It is not a group thing like supporting a football team. It is Jesus to you saying, ‘come to me.’ It is not an invitation to mindfulness or a philosophy, this is Jesus who says ‘I am gentle and lowly of heart’ inviting you to come.
Think about who is saying this to us, in Matthew 11v27 he says ‘all things have been committed to me by my father… no one knows the father except the son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’ In v 26 he says these things are revealed to ‘children’ or I interpret that as ‘child-like simplicity.’ The identity and authority of the one who makes the invitation to COME makes this very important, not to be ignored, not to be put on the ‘deal with it later’ pile.
Today Jesus is calling ‘softly and tenderly,’ ‘come, you who are weary and burdened.’
If you are not weary or burdened, you still need to ‘come’ because the road ahead will be wearisome (trust me).
Personal Story – I hadn’t a care in the world - then the bottom fell out of my world (at the age of 23).
His words to me were from Matthew 28:20 ‘I am with you,’ tied to you, yoked in, we’re in this together.
The young boy aged 10 who accepted his invitation to come, was discipled through school, Barbara Burgess led the CU at school and then when I had my own trauma, her inspiration and Jesus with me day by day carried me through.
Young or old among us here Jesus says ‘Come to me and you will find rest for your souls,’ that’s not just a promise of heaven when you die it is the promise of rest for today because you have yoked-up with the only one who could ever be called Saviour and friend, who will walk with you throughout life’s journey, he will never leave you or forsake you, he is your ever present help, his name is Jesus.
Three Verbs Come. Take. Learn
