“Come to me, all those exhausted and overloaded, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on your shoulders and learn from me, because I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my load is light” (Matt 11:28-30).
Last blog ended with the statement that we must deliberately learn from Jesus on how to be meek. How do we do that? He gives us two specific ways I will discuss over the next two or three days.
First, take up his yoke:
A yoke was a wooden frame that either joined together two animals to pull a load, or allowed a man to carry two heavy objects across his shoulders. The Jews referred to it as a symbol of dedication and obedience to the Torah. Studying and obeying the Law was the way they expressed their devotion to God as master, as well as their responsibility to “carry” his commands in the world. But here Jesus uses it as a symbol of exclusive devotion to him and his teachings.
Jesus calls us to make a fundamental decision to bow to his yoke alone (Mark 8:34; 1 Cor 2:2). That means we’ve made him our only option. Learning from Jesus is not done on our terms, but his. So we begin our learning process by resolving deeply in our hearts that we are devoted to Jesus – his ways and his teachings – not to ourselves or anyone else. His manner of life becomes our personal culture. He is our master; we are his disciples. Then we find that his yoke is liberating, inspiring, and eternally satisfying. Life becomes utter joy. His yoke is easy.
Nice, short blog, wasn’t it? Tomorrow I will address Jesus’ second way to learn from him. Till then… Keep Coming to Jesus.