89. Beginner Bible Course: The Great Invitation of Jesus to "The Yoke"

EPISODE 89    The simple Bible overview of… THE GREAT INVITATION OF JESUS – TO JOIN HIM IN THE YOKE

Imagine with me in high school, you fall in love with the subject of science and particularly biology and anatomy. You go to college on a pre-med track that confirms it. Your career path will be medical research. You're assigned to a team discovering the genome sequence of a new but debilitating disease. That's spreading across the globe. You pour yourself into your work knowing you're making a difference, but you have to take a leave of absence because you yourself get sick in a wicked irony. You discover you have the disease you've been studying. Now I'm betting when you come off that leave of absence, your first day back at work and all the days after will be different, it will likely be more intense, certainly more personal this episode, I'm going to break with our chronological journey with Jesus, through the gospels, to take you to a word picture.

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Jesus gives we're not going to fast forward very much in the chronology of the events, perhaps just a few months. But I think this word picture is necessary. Now, whether you're spiritually curious or you're committed to Jesus, I think Jesus word picture could change you from a student of the Bible to something, a layer deeper. We're going to go to the account in Matthew chapter 11. I hinted at it in our last episode on Jesus, choosing his apprentices in Matthew chapter 11, he's assembled all 12 of those disciples and they're tagging along with him. So are a number of curious Jewish people in audiences that keep on growing.

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And there's a number of very angry religious people listening in the Pharisees where the conservative religious people who never met a rule, they didn't like they believe they earned God. Their father's favor by doing his chores. And in particular, lots of little nitpicky tasks and rules. They kept and rabbi Jesus in front of his apprentice. Disciples like to challenge them on their do chores to please God theology. In this section of Matthew, the Pharisee is a really turning up the heat on Jesus. Nothing Jesus does can please them. And they seem to be continually picking on his apprentices for breaking their, do your chores for God rules.

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It's here. We come to a word picture that may have changed the lives of many in his audience. And it may well change yours, surrounded by Jews and his audience who had been picked on by the nitpicky. Do your chores for God rule, keeping farracies and by his apprentices who are being picked on by those nitpickers. Jesus said this come to me, all you who are weary and heavily burdened, and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you and learn from me for, I am humble and gentle and spirit, and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Now those three verses Matthew 11, 28 through 30 may not have struck you much right there.

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But I think as I explained this to you, it may hit you pretty hard. Let me break it down piece by piece. Come to me. Some have called this passage, the great invitation he had challenged his would be apprentices. His disciples come follow me using the same language. He says to the rest of the people in his audience. Come to me. He explains who he's giving this invitation to in his audience. Those of you who are weary and heavily ladened burdened down, what would that audience be burdened down with? The context clearly suggests these were religiously seeking people. What they were burdened down by and heavily ladened over where all those nitpicky do your chores rules of the Pharisees.

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Jesus promises to these folks who will come, that he will give them rest. This is a pretty important word to understand the word means wholeness, wholeness of body and soul. And I was made for this kind of sense. Deep inside. If you've grown up in a religious environment, I don't care what religion it is trying desperately to keep a whole bunch of rules just wears you out and wears you down. Then Jesus extends the invitation. Don't just come take my yoke and learn from me. I'll get back to that yoke. That's his word picture in a minute.

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But notice the invitation come learn from me. Be my disciple. That's what disciple meant learners come beside me. And let me be your mentor, your teacher like these 12 guys standing around me right now, my apprentices and what kind of teacher is rabbi Jesus. He's gentle and humble and heart, not strict, not one who always has the grade book open marking us satisfactory or unsatisfactory on each of our chores. He's a rabbi where you'll find rest for your souls. Jesus finishes the invitation by describing the yolk. It's easy and my burdens are light.

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Again. We need to know the definition at the time Jesus spoke these words easy, meant it fit and light meant it was manageable. It wouldn't weigh us down to those listening to Jesus, the audience, or the 12 apprentices around him. This was a stunning contrast to the rule. Keeping do your chores for God, Pharisees, that surrounded them, that made their daily life, both guilt, inducing and miserable, which brings us to Jesus word picture, take my yoke and learn from unless you grew up in Amish country, you may not even know what a yoke is, but not one person in Jesus' audience had any question.

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What he was talking about. A yoke was a harness. You put on oxygen to pull various farm implements, thick leather straps that went under the front of a cow or horse, and then a wood bar that went across the top of their shoulders. Those leather straps were cinched tight to that would bar the animals heads were put through the loop between the straps and the bar and ropes were tied from that would yoke to the farm implement being pulled like a cart or a plow. Jesus, as you may have known, grew up in a home of a carpenter Joseph of Nazareth, since a young man was taught by his father at trade. It's almost certain.

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Jesus knew how to work with wood and had built yolks with his dad in the wood shop. A local farmer would bring in his two cows. Normally it was an old, strong, experienced cow and a young one that the farmer wanted to train Jesus and his dad would measure these cows and custom build out of a beam that would yoke that custom fit. Each of the two cows. Those two cows would be placed by the farmer in the yolk side-by-side then they'd be hooked up to the farm implement. Let's say a plow, the old experience cow, she knew what was up. She'd start heading toward the field, dragging the young cow, her apprentice next to her toward the field.

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Very likely that young cow had other ideas. Like I'm going to eat me some of that grass right there, along the path, but the old cow wouldn't have it being stronger and experienced. She jerked the yolk and jerked the young whipper snapper back onto the path to head toward the field for awhile that Wipper snapper would keep chafing in the yolk, but after a while he realized, you know, this isn't working so well. I think I'll just let her decide what we're going to do today. From the beginning, it was pretty clear. The old strong experienced cow would do most of the Poland and all of the directing. The young apprentice cow would follow the tugs in the yolk and do his or her part to provide the cow power, to get the job done after working together for a while, these two had learned each other's moves and they would become a valuable team attractor.

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Now that you know that, let me read that part of Jesus' invitation. Again, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. My yoke is easy. It fits. And my burden is light. Jesus is saying, come to me all you who are weary and burdened down that wasn't just his 12 apprentices. Or even for that matter, that audience listening that day, he's making this great invitation to us, to us. He is saying, come to me, I've got a custom built yolk just for you and me. Join me in a side-by-side apprenticeship daily. Even moment by moment, I'll provide the direction, just follow my lead in the yolk.

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I'll provide most of the power. In fact, let me provide most of the power. And over time we'll become a team. We'll know each other's moves, no wonder they call it the great invitation. You may be thinking that was a great invitation for those around Jesus. But if you haven't noticed Jesus isn't here anymore, how can I join Jesus in the yolk? Now I'm about to make a statement. And some of you are going to think I'm certifiably nuts. If you could present the two invitations to Jesus' 12 disciples, the invitation he gave them come follow me or the invitation he gives us, take my yoke and learn from me.

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Those 12 apprentices around Jesus. They take the yolk invitation every time. Seriously. You're saying we have a greater privilege now than the disciples had walking with Jesus for three or four years. Jesus said that Jesus is talking to his disciples the night before his death. They're really bent out of shape that he's going to leave. Jesus says, guys, it's really great that I'm taking off. Trust me on this one, because when I'm gone being my apprentices, going to get a whole lot better, I'm going to send my spirit, not just to be beside you in the yolk, but inside you in the Oak.

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We'll talk way more about this soon, but there's two other reasons the disciples would take our invitation over there's. One is the scriptures given to us as God's word, as men were carried along by the Holy spirit. Through these words, Jesus continues to teach us powerfully transformatively. His disciples didn't have acts through revelation. And the third reason they'd take our invitation over theirs are all the people around us. God's kids in the yoke with Jesus learning to walk from his word, God, places, those folks around us in community to teach us and encourage us as apprentices of Jesus, Jesus invitation to the yolk.

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So grab my brother, Tom, that he had a Juul or fashion, a small yolk out of gold. He keeps it around his neck on a chain. He wears it as a constant reminder that he's accepted. Jesus' invitation to the yolk. That what it means to be a follower of Jesus is to be side by side, in that yolk in an intimate daily apprenticeship, to remind him to obey the tugs in the yolk from Jesus and to lean on him for the bulk of the power for his life, not to lean on his own strength. He's been wearing that for nearly 30 years. And I get the privilege as his little brother to watch what's happening in his life. From where I stand.

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He's learning Jesus moves as we go forward in the gospels. I want to challenge you not to be a student or researcher of the story, but to imagine yourself there, besides Jesus in that yolk, and as you turn the pages of the gospels to ask yourself, what is rabbi Jesus, teaching me here as his apprentice. Okay. Apprentices of Jesus. Let's go back to following them around through the gospels. Our next stop is a visit to the temple in Jerusalem. It's going to get exciting and we'll see why in our next word picture.