Wow, have you ever caught this?
I’ve been studying through the Gospel of Matthew for the past couple of weeks. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read this one passage or heard people quote it. Most of the time you hear this set of verses quoted to people hurting or needing lifting up but I have never heard one particular part of the verse mentioned or preached on. Why? I’m not sure because I think the part we leave out some many times is even cooler or more awesome than the other.
Drum Role Please for the passage I am referring to:
Matthew 28-30 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Why do I say we’ve missed something with this passage? Well, we quote and preach on verses 28, 29a, 29c, 30. For some reason I have never heard that message on “and learn from me.” The reason this is so important is that all the comfort and support from God can only happen with we “Come to me (Jesus),” which refers to salvation through Christ and Christ alone. But the picture we miss is that of the when Jesus says “Take my yoke upon you” is the key to the whole passage. Before I give us the answer to this riddle let me make sure we understand what the yoke is and the purpose of the yoke. What people might not know is that the farmers would team an old cow/bull with a young cow/bull so that the older cow could teach the younger cow how to plow or pull. This same picture is used for us when we come to Christ for salvation, Jesus teams up with us in the yoke so that we can “learn from Him.” This is the ultimate accountability partner or mentor.
Yes, when we go through struggles Christ is with us and he will comfort us and guide us. But! We can only get this “help” if we come to Him for salvation, and understand that we go through nothing by ourselves because when we accept Christ he partners with us and we join his training program and learn how to plow the fields.
So the next time want to quote this verse to someone we must:
1. Someone to get this light yoke they must be a Christ Follower (Christian).
2. But when they get that light yoke, it is because we have a “partner” on the other side of the yoke and he is the Holy Spirit (Christ) who is teaching us and helping us learn.
