The Yoke of Life

‘But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market-places and calling to one another, “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.” For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.’

At that time Jesus said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’
Matthew 11.16-19, 25-end

Matthew 11:16-30 is split into three parts:

Part 1 – verses 16 to 19
Part 2 – verses 20-24
Part 3 – verses 25-30

Our reading today misses out part 2; this is, of course, widely available in any good Bible. This whole section of teaching from Jesus starts off (at the beginning of Matthew 11) after the sending out of the disciples, which we have looked at over the past two weeks.

So, Jesus’s disciples have set off to proclaim and live the Gospel and Jesus gave them space to do this by going to other towns to teach when He is asked a question by the disciples of John the Baptist, who is now in prison. Jesus tells them to report back that the prophecy regarding the Messiah is being fulfilled. Jesus then speaks about John, likening him to Elijah and bringing us to part 1 of today’s Gospel.

Jesus rebukes, or if you prefer, sternly tells off, those who are displeased with or who do not accept the ministry of John the Baptist and Himself.

He points out how picky, choosy and uncertain His current generation were about receiving God’s message and His messengers … I imagine this would be much the same if He were instead addressing today’s generation.

He points out that those who want to criticise will do so no matter what; whether it was John the Baptist teaching them, Jesus Himself, or someone completely different – if they want to find fault they will and likewise if they want to refuse to listen to God’s voice both when it comes through in a serious way or a joyful way they will. Basically, if what is being said does not suit them and is not what they want to hear they will reject it.

Jesus then quotes some of the criticisms and insults that had been made about Him and in doing so turns them on their head. What started as a jibe and a condemnation becomes a title of honour and we praise our Lord, thanking Him for being our friend – a friend of sinners.

Jesus then highlights that those who are wise are proved so by their actions. These are those who accept both Jesus and John for who they were and who they were called to be.

Like Moses leading thousands of people out of Egypt towards God and preparing them for the promised land, John led thousands of people to repentance, preparing the way for the Messiah.

Like Moses taught the people to discern God’s will for their lives and to obey His commands, Jesus taught, worked, loved, and rose again to show us the way back to the Father.

Which brings us to the missing part 2. Here Jesus has stern rebuke for the cities which had witnessed both John’s ministry and mighty works and despite these still are unrepentant and disregarded Him. Neglect is just as bad as persecution.

And so we reach part 3, where Jesus praises those who do receive His message.

As Jesus communicates here with His Father there is a strong sense of joy. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit communicate and commune with each other with joy. Not happiness, which is nothing like joy and which is fleeting but true joy. Joy is a far deeper and enduring state of being centered around connection, meaning and purpose, and which can be maintained even during difficult times.

Jesus responds positively to God choosing those that the world would deem unlikely to respond to His message, but don’t forget the wider context of the rising rejection of Jesus and His messengers, especially by the elite.

This section of the passage shows us more about the relationship between God the Father and God the Son, between whom there are no secrets. No one knows the Son as well as the Father and no one knows the Father as well as the Son. There is a difference in the way the Son knows the Father to the way we know Him.

God the Son and God the Father are equal whereas we know God because He lowers Himself so that we might know Him.

Jesus has authority and this is shown as He calls us to Him with the words “Come unto me”. This invitation is open to all. None are excluded. Jesus calls those who are burdened and those who recognise that they need to come to Jesus and rely on Him instead of attempting to struggle on by themselves. By burdened Jesus refers to the burdens that we take on ourselves whereas by heavy laden He is referring to those that others have put upon us.

Jesus extends the invitation further saying take my yoke upon you and learn from me. We must come as disciples to learn, willing to be guided by Jesus and not merely for what we can get out of it.

The Israelites and ancient Jews used the idea of a yoke to mean someone’s obligation to God. They had:

the yoke of the kingdom
the yoke of the law
the yoke of the command
the yoke of repentance
the yoke of faith
and the general yoke of God.

Jesus is simplifying this. He is saying stop over – complicating it with all these yokes. The yoke you need to take is my yoke. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.

Let’s take a closer look at the yoke of Jesus:

It is easy and light … unless we turn away from it.
It is not connected with worries or concerns forbidden to us.
It doesn’t include any of the burdens we choose to add ourselves.

Jesus invites us to let go of the extra burdens we like to hold on to. We don’t like to let go of things but these burdens are not part of the yoke of Jesus and are just weights we refuse to release.

Jesus is gentle and lowly of heart. Throughout His ministry He shows His servant heart and His qualification to bear our burdens for us.

Jesus promises that if we take on His yoke we will find rest for our souls. God previously offered this promise to those who follow Him. “Thus says the Lord: ‘stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; walk in it and you will find rest for your souls’…” (Jeremiah 6:16). And Jesus now repeats this promise in His own name.

With Jesus bearing it with us the yoke is easy and the burden is light. Alone it could be unbearable, but we are not alone. It does not mean we will have an easy life lounging in front of a pool sipping a refreshing beverage. It does not mean that there are lighter demands. It does mean entering into and being in a discipleship.

If your yoke is uncomfortable, if your burden is heavy, then it is not Jesus’s yoke or burden and you have not let Him bear it. Instead you are holding onto it like grim death. Like A Christmas Carol’s Scrooge and Marley choking under the weight of the chains they forged in life.

Give it to Jesus, let Him bear it. Take on His yoke. Ultimately, it’s up to you, that’s what free will is. Do you want to be Scrooge before his conversion – weighted down by the chains of his own making, or after his conversion – a new human in Christ? For as Jesus says ‘My yoke is easy and my burden is light’.

My yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Photo by Suat Tu00fcfenk on Pexels.com)

He Is Risen!

Listening to the readings again on Easter Sunday with the women going to the tomb to prepare Jesus’s body reminds me of something I read recently about Mary – Jesus’s mother.

It is interesting, is it not, that Jesus’s mother – arguably His greatest disciple, a woman of tremendous faith, who stayed by Him to the bitter end, is not listed amongst the women going to attend to Jesus’s body.

And this poses the theory that the first person Jesus appeared to may well have been His mother and that this is why she was not among those going to the tomb at dawn. Such an appearance would be part of completing her participation in the essential parts of the paschal mystery.

Mary suffered above all others in the suffering and death of her son. Christ kept the commandments. He honoured His heavenly Father, His earthly father and His mother, so it makes sense that he’d visit her first.

If a son lived far away and his mother was told he’d died but he was actually alive and healthy and he returned to the area, it would highlight that he was not a good son if he visited his friends first and his mother last.

Jesus was the perfect son. So, why would He not visit His mother first. There’s also her faith, which, despite the apostles losing theirs at Jesus’s passion, Mary had in abundance. Scripture tells us that the Lord shows Himself to those who have faith in Him. And, of course, she loved her son so much and scripture tells us that those who love Him will be visited by Him.

How joyful she must have felt at seeing her son alive once more.

There is a special kind of joy at Easter. It’s not just the spring flowers springing up into life or the longer days. What it is is a deep, radiant joy born from our Lord’s victory over sin and death so that we might have eternal life with Him.

Jesus leaves the darkness and rises to new life. Through God’s grace, this gives us the gift that, no matter what our past was, we have permission to leave it behind and embrace the hope and joy of new lives in Christ. His sacrifice and act of intermediary reconciliation grants us forgiveness of our past sins, our present sins and our future sins.

A cross in a sunny field of flowers. Easter Joy.

Remembrance

This morning we have two key elements. We have the good news which is the gospel and we have Remembrance.

Our gospel¹ this morning recounts an event which took place at the Sea of Galilee. Now, in Jesus’s time this was the centre of a prosperous fishing industry. The importance of knowing this will become clear shortly.

And the event Mark is recounting is the pivotal moment of Jesus calling His first disciples. Relevant both then and now is that the call to follow Jesus was a call to BE with Jesus as well as to learn and be Jesus’s representatives, carrying out the ministry He gives. The disciples were with Jesus and learning directly from Jesus.

So Jesus calls to those He had chosen, and immediately they left their nets, their boats, their fishing businesses, their families, everything. No hanging back, no hesitation, no requests for extra time to finish what they were doing or to pack their equipment. Immediately! Leaving everything! To follow and be with Jesus!

These were just ordinary men, the same as you and me. They heard the call, calling to something deep inside them, and they knew they must heed it. They followed Jesus. They made mistakes just like all of us and they learnt from these, repented and were forgiven. They went on to do great work spreading the good news of Jesus all around the world and this was not without suffering and death but Jesus was with them and had prepared them for this work. They did not follow blindly but with eyes which had been opened.

God calls every single one of us and our whole lives must come under His rule. Our money, our relationships, our work, our time, our everything should be under the rule of Jesus – not because we accept Him as king but because He IS king. And what we are called to do is to repent and believe. To turn away from sin and accept the forgiveness freely offered to us by Jesus.

Believing that Jesus is king who brought God’s kingdom to us and embracing it in faith, turning from sin and embracing forgiveness is the very starting point of discipleship. We are unable to move forward without repenting and submitting to the rule of Jesus.

Belief is not merely accepting something as true. Belief involves a response from our whole being in complete obedience.

Just like in Jesus’s day when the people trusted in all sorts of things: their ancestry, land, temple, and laws are just a few examples of many, people today trust in many differing things. Jesus was calling them and calls us to trust the good news that God was and is doing something new through Jesus. To be part of His kingdom requires letting go of all these earthly ties that distract us and putting our whole trust in Jesus. Repent and believe because God has come and you can belong to His kingdom and have your sin taken away.

But that doesn’t mean we have to forget.

Remembrance Sunday is an opportunity to remember and honour those who have lost their lives in conflict and those who were left physically and emotionally scarred.

It is an opportunity to all join in the silence together and allow our remembrances to help us face more honestly what it means to be human and to deepen our commitment to peace.

In all of this we seek God’s everlasting and all encompassing love.

War brings much death and trauma. There are those who cannot speak of the horrors they experienced. The silence we hold today also honours them.

As we struggle to find words to speak into the silence and horror of loss and trauma, we make Christ known. In the depths, we discover, He gives us words to speak of healing, forgiveness, and the knowledge that in Christ death is not the end and that love not violence is the final word.

God takes from us all our raging and bitterness, if we just let Him, and in the resurrection He shows us the way to peace.

The hard won, costly peace of the sacrifice of His son, who faced war yet did not respond with retribution and retaliation but with mercy, forgiveness and love.

We hold silence and remember, not so we can forget for the rest of the year, but so we can be reminded of a call to speak and recommit to live as peacemakers, as people who through the love and passion of the self-offering and sacrifice of Christ, God has come near.

And we live into the hope of a world where war will be no more.

We will remember them.

(Mark 1:14-20) ↩︎