His yoke

Matthew 11:25-12:21

The earlier chapters of Matthew describe how Jesus had seen the brokenness and burden of the Jewish people and how they "were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd" (Matthew 9:36).

This was because Israel no longer heard from their Great Shepherd. Israel at the time was oppressed by the Romans who had conquered their land. In turn, the Romans had allowed Herod Antipas to rule the nation and tax them heavily. Finally, there was an oppressive religious hierarchy that dominated the spiritual heart of the nation. This group included the Pharisees and the Sadducees and they demanded strict obedience to the law of God by the people of Israel. They saw themselves as examples of faithfulness but sadly they missed the intent of the Law which was to love God (Deuteronomy 6:5). Jesus saw that the people were weary of trying to comply with the Pharisaical view of the Law and that they had lost heart. In their minds God was afar off and His voice was lost to the nation. Unbeknownst to them God was close and was living amongst them!

Further, Israel no longer followed the Great Shepherd. Sadly Israel's original relationship with God had broken down long before the Romans and Herod because of the sins of compromise and idolatry. They no longer followed the Great Shepherd from their heart and God's appointed priests and teachers of the Law had replaced the concept of a loving relationship with God with a list of rules that got harder and harder to achieve as the decades went by. This was religion rather than relationship! This religion was focused on external compliance and not the actual state of a person's relationship with God. 

Religion was Israel's burden. 

Freedom. In response, Jesus declared what a relationship with God should really be like: 

"Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light". Matthew 11:28-30.

Jesus lived in such a close relationship with God the Father. He understood the intent of His Father's commands and it was this freeing relationship that He taught to His disciples.

Religion or Relationship? Unfortunately religion and relationship are at odd's with each other and in Matthew 12:1-8 we see a clash between these two ways of thinking. These verses describe how Jesus' disciples were walking through a wheat field on the Sabbath day innocently plucking wheat as they were hungry. This behaviour was acceptable as God's law allowed people to do this (see Deuteronomy 23:25). However the Pharisees viewed things more severely and instantly, the Pharisees' religious radar was triggered and they quickly condemned the disciples for 'harvesting crops' on the Sabbath.

Jesus immediately saw the Pharisee's religious mindset for what it was and He challenged their accusations by reminding them of how David ate the stale shewbread from the Tabernacle when he and his men were on the run from King Saul. This was not normally permissible but was allowed on this occasion because the men were starving (1 Samuel 21:6). Jesus also pointed out that when the priests were on duty in the temple they effectively profaned the Sabbath but were regarded as blameless (Matthew 12:5). 

Because Jesus had taken these illustrations from God's word the Pharisees struggled to justify their accusation as neither situation had ever received God's disapproval. This angered the Pharisees even more but sadly instead of seeing the freedom Jesus was offering they retreated into their stultifying religion and closed their ears to what Jesus was saying.

Are we any different? Going back to the verses quoted at the beginning of this post it is worth noting that Jesus says that if we are laboring in our life and and are heavy burdened He promises to give you rest. 

But rest from what? Rest from religion! 

Being spiritually worn-out may be the result of  focusing on rules and regulations created by ourselves or others. It could also be that we are trying to constantly please God through our efforts instead of sharing a close relationship with Him based on His grace (Ephesians 2:8).

When Jesus said "His yoke was easy" (Matthew 11:28-30) He was referring to the wooden beam (the yoke) that bound cattle together to turn a circular milling wheel. In such situations an older experienced animal was bound to a younger untrained animal side-by-side. The older animal knew what to do and the younger animal quickly learned to follow the older animal rather that try and pull in another direction.  Once trained, the younger animal would find that the yoke rested lightly on its shoulders and the effort involved in turning the milling wheel was greatly reduced.  

So it is with us that when we feeling discouraged and burdened we have to ask are we walking in tandem with Him? Our tendency is to pull in our own direction and turn our walk with God into a legalistic routine because because it doesn't require faith! It is so much easier to just comply with a bunch of religious tasks. We can turn the most spiritual of activities such as worship, daily devotions and prayer into binding activities that can drain us of life. Please note that these activities are critical to our relationship with God but as we all know familiarity can breed contempt and if we are not careful we can find we are just doing things without any heart.  

So how do we ensure that we yoke ourselves to Jesus to ensure we are doing things for the right reasons? How do we take his yoke upon us?  I think the key is to develop the practice of coming to Jesus on a daily basis and spending time with Him. In the Song of Solomon 2:14 we see the picture of Jesus (the Beloved) speaking to you and me (the Shulamite woman) saying: 

O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,

In the secret places of the cliff,

Let me see your face,

Let me hear your voice;

For your voice is sweet,

And your face is lovely.

When the Lord says 'let me see your face' He is asking us to look at Him and not hide our unhealthy relationship behind a mask of religious activity. This can be hard but turning our hearts and thoughts towards Him allows us to become more honest with Him. 

He also asks to 'hear our voice' because He wants us to communicate with Him rather than us speak at Him with lists of repetitious prayers. Again persevering in prayer is important but it must be grounded in relationship with Him rather than religious effort.

Finally, it is important to remember that Jesus' comments about the yoke start with "Come to Me"; this is the true starting point to find rest for our souls. 

Come close and live.

Notes:

The supplied image is part of the book "Up the Nile, and home again. A handbook for travellers and a travel-book for the library" by Frederick William Fairholt (1814-1866). The book was published in 1862.