"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." vv. 28, 29

 

         We sang a little song in Sunday School when I was a little boy: "I will make you fishers of men." Maybe they still sing it--it has good motions to it. The last verse is this text in Matthew:

         "Hear Christ calling, come unto me, come unto me, come unto me. Hear Christ calling come unto me, I will give you rest."

         I liked the fishing part, but was not so interested in the "rest." Jesus helps you take a nap? I'm not sure if I understood what was being offered, nor perhaps did the teachers. He will give you rest.

         My sense is that there continues to be some uncertainty about what Jesus offers.

Notice then how Jesus speaks.

         The invitation: "Come unto me."

         The promise: "I will give you rest."

         The instruction: "Take my yoke upon you"; "Learn from me."

         The promise repeated: "You will find rest for your soul."

         The reason: "My yoke is easy and my burden is light."

         In his commentary on Matthew, R.T. France points out that there are two kinds of yokes, still used in much of the world today.

1.    An animal yoke – It is a large, heavy piece of wood, cut out to fit over the necks of two large animals and used to harness them together for work. The picture is of two oxen yoked while plowing. In the Old Testament this type of yoke was used as a symbol of oppression or slavery. It is a heavy yoke. In the New Testament this type of yoke is pictured in statements such as II Corinthians 6:14: "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers."

2.    A human yoke – This is worn by an individual for the purpose of distributing the weight to make it easier to carry a load. The picture I think of is people carrying water by putting a rod across their shoulders with ropes tied on the ends to a couple of buckets. If you have to carry water from a river to your house by picking up a bucket in each hand, it will not be long before you feel the pain in your shoulders. But with a yoke, you can do such work easily for some time. The human yoke makes work easier and lighter, and it increases the amount of work one can do.

The human yoke was used as a symbol in many Jewish writings of Jesus' day. It is a positive symbol. These writings see the yoke as the law, or the Torah. One of them says: "He who takes upon himself the yoke of the Torah, from him shall be taken away the yoke of worldly care; he who throws off the yoke of the Torah, on him will be laid the yoke of worldly care."

The yoke is the study of God's word. If you do it daily, if you memorize God's word, then life goes better, it is easier, and more productive. This is the type of yoke Jesus has in mind when he says "My yoke is easy and my burden is light."

This idea is found in the book of Proverbs. Counsel is given to young people by the voice of wisdom. The study of God's word and application of it to daily, practical living will make life go better. To walk in God's light is a gift, often a greater gift than we realize.

         But in Jesus' day the teachers of the law intensified its demands. They required people to do far more than was actually written in the Scripture. What was required actually could not be done by people who had to do physical work all day. The burden of the law became exceedingly heavy, and few could carry it.

         So Jesus calls the overburdened and weary people to his yoke. That is, he calls them to learn from him. He was not calling for an easier way of being a Pharisee, a light religion for busy people. He was calling people to a new way of living, by the grace of God. He was calling people into a relationship with the Heavenly father, walking in the light. The yoke of Jesus is discipleship, a lifelong process of learning how to live as God requires. It is this discipleship that brings rest to the soul.

         But what does Jesus mean by using that word "rest"?

         One aspect of "rest" is lightening the load of "what I must do" and coming into a relationship of faith in Jesus, where we come to know God as friend and Jesus as the one who lifts our guilt and forgives our sin.

         But there is another side to this "rest." It comes from an understanding of the yoke of Jesus. Coming to Jesus in faith not only lightens the load, it also gives us endurance, energy and joy in doing God's will. The yoke of Jesus fits us for serving Christ with our lives.

         One aspect of rest can be found in keeping the Sabbath. Loren Wilkinson of Regent College in Vancouver, Canada, has written about how people are rediscovering the gift of Sabbath. He writes,

"The roots of the Sabbath are in the Genesis one creation account, which is first of all about the preparing of places (the first three days of creation) and then the filling of places (the second three days of creation) and finally, at the end of the sixth day, about the image of God, Adam, male and female, being placed within the completed temple of God's creation. But that is all prelude. The crown of creation is not humanity, but it is the Sabbath rest of the seventh day, with Adam as priest in God's temple, offering the whole glorious gift back in peace to the Creator."

         So rest is not doing nothing, or being self-indulgent. Sabbath rest is becoming what God has created us to be, for which we need the yoke of Jesus.

         Next, I believe, is the rediscovery of spiritual sunshine. The "rest" that is given by Jesus is a spiritual experience of Christ as Joy. In the revivals, people called this experience "sunshine." I fear we have largely lost this experience. In our current focus on obedience (doing justice) and duty (churchgoing) we have ceased to sing about and live the experience of heavenly sunshine in the soul. But the works of compassion and justice and mission of the Mission Friends always had a heart of joy, not a grim determination.

         Here is a hymn from that era, written by Eliza Hewitt.

         "There is sunshine in my soul today,

         More glorious and bright

         Than glows in any earthly sky,

         For Jesus is the light.

 

         There is music in my soul today,

         For when the Lord is near,

         The dove of peace sings in my heart,

         The flowers of grace appear.

 

         O there is sunshine, blessed sunshine,

         When the peaceful, happy moments roll;

         When Jesus shows his smiling face,

         There is sunshine in my soul."

 

         The easy yoke of Jesus does not exclude us from doing the work of justice, but the experience of sunshine lightens that work, so that it is done with joy, and we are able to bear the heat of the day, doing the will of God.

         Communion leads us to the sunshine of grace, to the joy of the Lord. The joy of the table leads us to the easy yoke of Jesus. He invites us now to come and experience his rest.

         Amen.