"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."
Matthew 11:29
Part 1
Today we are borrowing for our meditation, the middle thought of Jesus’ great invitation,
“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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
“Take my yoke upon you.”
Jesus invites His followers to take up His yoke. The yoke was the carved beam that harnessed the oxen together so that they could be guided by their master and work to pull the plow or cart. To be “under the yoke” meant to be bound in for labor and doing something.
“One of the most common figurative expressions of the time was that of the yoke for submission to an occupation or obligation” (Vincent).
Education is one of those things young people are “obligated” to. The rabbis used to call the school a “yoke.” Many students will agree with that picture. School is hard work that the pupil is bound to, especially when the homework piles up, and the sleep gets less.
When Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you,” He is inviting us to attend His school, be guided by His yoke, to learn and do from Him. He is the most excellent Teacher. He is understanding, forgiving, and our best guide for life.
“And learn of me.”
Notice Jesus isn’t calling us to His school to be lazy students, but to “learn.” He wants us to learn about Him and what His Word teaches. What a privilege the disciples had to sit at Jesus’ feet and learn from Him. His lessons were to be used by them for their own lives and to teach them to others.
“For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you” (John 13:15).
What Jesus taught, He wanted His disciples to teach believers to obey.
“Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matthew 28:20).
We are to learn His lessons well that we may begin to think His thoughts.
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5).
As we begin to think as Jesus thinks, we will start to act as Jesus did.
“He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked” (1 John 2:6).
Come back tomorrow as we think about Jesus and humility.
Quote: “The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatness is”[1] (Phillip Brooks).
[1] Quoted in Burning Out for God, E. Skoglund, p. 11. Downloaded: Friday, June 19, 2020. From: https://bible.org/illustration/smallness-our-greatness.