|
"Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, 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." - Matt. 11-28-30
In the days of Jesus boys from a very young age dedicated much of their time to the study and especially the memorization of the Torah...first 5 books fo the Bible. Before they had reached their teenage years most would have had this memorized and some would have continued to meomirze the remainder of the Old Testament as we know it. The young Jewish boys who excelled in their studies would possibly have the opportunity to be apprenticed by a Rabbii. this was a great honor...very much like the Hockey draft of today. Rabbis would travel around looking for very gifted boys who would excell in study and would extend the offer to come to or with them and learn from them.
This is the context of the statement that Jesus is making here TO EVERYONE.
This is first modeled in the calling of His disciples...notice in the Gospels how many times Jesus is called Rabbi or teacher...People look to him as such and so when you see Jesus going and selecting His disciples it is very contrary to the custom of the day. The choosing of fishermen, tax collectors etc was odd enough but the choosing of grown men not yung men was also strange.
The Rabbis Yoke was the term that was used to encompass the all of his teaching and practice. What he knew of Scripture, what he practiced as far as the Law was concerned, How he taught, how he counselled, how he judged. and especially how he acted was all part of the Rabbis Yoke.
So when Jesus comes along and offers us the opportunity to come to him without having us prove ourselves or look like we earned our position or the opportunity it sure fits with our understanding of Grace doesn't it. We have done noting to merit the acceptance and invitation of Jesus. And yet He invites us to "come". He then invites us to take His yoke upon us. or His teaching...mainly the teaching of unmerited favor and grace.. many rabbis were strict and demanding but Jesus was different.
There were many times however that Jeus laid out plainly the fact that to be a follower of Christ there would also be sacrifice and opposition but in this instance we are told that the burden is light and under it we may still find rest.
For the jews this meant that they no longer had to work for their salvation, For us it means that we have a means of Salvation. ...This is one of those moments in Scripture where you wish the chapter diviions where not in there. becasue as you keep reading you will see this come to light. Jeus heals on the Sabbath and recieves a lot of grief for it. He goes against rules traditions and guidelines and gets to the heart of what is important. OUR SOUL.
In Chapter 12 Jesus makes the claim that He is greater than the Sabbath. and that He is Lord of the Sabbath. in both of these statements jJsus is making clear the point htat religion should not point to us but to the one we are worshiping and if we miss this point we have missed the boat entirely.
Mere Religion does 1 of 2 things both of which offend God.
1. Make us arrogant - we feel we have done right, we feel we have followed the traditions, customs and teachings to a tee and don't need any help. These were the Pharisees who missed Jesus because of their arrogance.
or
2) Makes people feel worthless - those who cannot measure up feel like they have no hope of reaching God or pleasing him and are at a loss for what to do so most give up.
Jesus teaches us that if we are willing to put Religion aside and follow Chirst the focus of our worship we will find rest from our business and failed attempts to please Him and instead find comfort, counsel and communion with God Through Christ Jesus. .
|
