Take my yoke and lean from me [Matt 11b]*

Matthew 11:16-30*
Key verse: Matthew 11:29

Introduction:

In Matthew 10, Jesus sent his disciples out with instructions. This was assumedly a missionary journey, which resulted in Jesus’ work being well publicized throughout that entire region. So Matthew 11 is about assessing the peoples’ responses to Jesus’ initial presentation of himself as the king of Israel. This came through his healing of all the sick.

When God created man and woman in the Garden of Eden, there was no sickness; however, after the fall of mankind, death came upon man as God’s ordained judgment on the disobedient. Sicknesses are a constant threat to life. Eventually, diseases will lead all men to death. As proof of his authority and power over life, Jesus healed all who came to him. This was not just a demonstration of magic power. Rather, it was a demonstration of Jesus’ supreme authority as the Son of God, who created human beings in the beginning. So in some sense, these healings, and even raising the dead, can be understood as a re-creation of life. The power that created life in the beginning was also revealed in his healing of all sicknesses. In this way, Jesus demonstrated his authority over all human life as the Son of God.

Today’s passages are about Jesus’ assessment of peoples’ responses to these miraculous works. His response is given in four aspects. First, he addressed the root of their problem in rejecting Him. Second, he communicated what the outcome would be of those who rejected him. Third, he discussed what God’s purpose and solution was for such massive unbelief. Fourth, he invited them to enter the kingdom of God.

1.    This generation that rejected God [Matthew 11:16-19].

"To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: "'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.'” (Matthew 11:16-17).

Here, Jesus told a parable about children playing in the market place. When one of them plays music, the rest react accordingly, either by dancing or mourning. But for some reason, the rest were not willing to go along with the one who was playing the music. Even though they played dance music, the rest remained silent and made no response. So he played a dirge instead. The rest still sat silently and gave no response. Simply, the rest of the children didn’t like whatever the music player was doing; they had their own mindsets and wanted their own way. They wanted to be independent from the song player. They wanted their own autonomy! Those who rejected Jesus are like these children who rejected the music player. This is further detailed in the next passage:

“For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." 'But wisdom is proved right by her actions." (Matthew 11:18-19).

God sent John as His representative. He lived an ascetic, pure, simple, humble, and strictly law-abiding life in a desert, but they rejected John and his message. God also sent Jesus. He offered blessing, performed many miracles, and offered man entrance into God’s kingdom. This was so good and easy, because it was free and a blessing for all. But these people rejected him as well. Who were they? They were the cities of Korazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, major cities of Galilee, where the Jews lived. In these cities, lived all of the educated flourishing  Jewish cultures. How can we compare these cities? They are like the metropolitan of Washington, D.C. D.C. and its suburbs make up one of the best centers of education and income in the nation. It makes up the heart of American hope and culture.

The majority of these people rejected Jesus as the coming Messiah, even though he had healed so many. What can we understand about this?

Like the children in the market place, these people had rejected Jesus because they did not want to dance to other peoples’ music; they wanted only their own. This is the mindset of independence and autonomy! This is the rejection of God and His authority as the One who created us and who provides us with all we need. This is the root of sin. It was seen in those who built the Tower of Babel in Shinar.

“Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."” (Genesis 11:4).

This is also seen in peoples’ minds today. The generation in which we are living is typified by concept known as ‘postmodernism”. The most prominent tenet of the postmodern thinking is the denial of anything absolute [i.e. all meta-narratives, an absolute God, etc.]. In other words, they reject any authority apart from themselves as a source or foundation of truth. If there is a god, then that god needs to prove himself, according to the taste of each individual. Simply speaking, God must play man’s game; otherwise, they will reject Him. Thus, each person is a king unto himself. This is the same attitude that children have while playing games. This is also the attitude of the people who rejected John as well as Jesus. This is the heart of men’s pride and rejection of God, the Creator of all human beings. As with the people of these three towns, so with the people of this age who reject Jesus, because they would not accept any other authorities in their lives. However, such rejection of God will surely bear consequences. Jesus declared coming judgment on these cities. Let’s find out the details of his declaration.

2.    Those who reject God’s authority and power will surely face judgment [Matthew 11:20-24].

“Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent.” (Matthew 11:20).

Jesus had served the people by healing many out of his compassion and love. This love was also extended through his disciples’ healing. However, from this point on, Jesus began to denounce those who rejected him as the Son of God. What does this mean? He performed many miracles, which were enough evidence for many to believe that he was the Messiah. But others were not willing to accept him as the coming king. What was the primary cause of such unbelief? Here, it says: ‘because they did not repent’ (Matthew 11:20b).
John came and preached repentance. These people did not accept his message; his harsh rebuke slid past their ears. They would not admit that they were wrong or that they were sinners. They thought that, since they were descendants of Abraham, they were as right and good as he was. So an unrepentant mind is one that fails to recognize that he or she is a sinner.

On top of this unrepentant mind, the many miracles Jesus performed did little to change them. They still rejected him. What would be the outcome of such rejection?

"Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.” (Matthew 11:21-22).

Here are two towns that Jesus denounced for their unbelief. They were Korazin and Bethsaida in the region of Galilee. In these two towns, Jesus performed many miracles and taught in their synagogues; however, they rejected him as their king. Therefore, they would face judgment. This judgment would surely come upon them. At the time of judgment, they would fare worse than Tyre and Sidon, two Gentile cities in which there was much idolatry and ungodliness.  However, they would do better than the two towns of God’s chosen people, Korazin and Bethsaida. So failure to accept Jesus is far worse than godliness practiced in unbelief.
Jesus did not stop there. He denounced another town where he had performed many miracles.

“And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."” (Matthew 11:23-24).

Capernaum was also a town in Galilee. These three towns were not far apart from each other. Jesus performed many miracles here as well. However, they too rejected him. So Jesus foretold their fate  on Judgment Day. At that time, which one would do better - Capernaum or Sodom?

I would like to compare these two cities. First, Sodom was a city during Abraham’s time, about 1500 years before Jesus lived. When two angels visited Lot’s house, all of the townsmen, both young and old, gathered at his door and demanded this:

“Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom-- both young and old-- surrounded the house. They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."” (Genesis 19:4-5).

Soon after this event, God rained down fiery sulfur upon the town.

“Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah-- from the LORD out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities-- and also the vegetation in the land.” (Genesis 19:24-25).

Likewise, every single person in Sodom perished. Their vulgar demand revealed the moral and ethical decay of that society. Capernaum was a town full of God’s people. They had synagogue and God’s word was read every week. Most of them did not live such a life as we have seen in Sodom. They thought that they lived godly life. Simply, in a gross assessment of morals and ethics, Sodom was far worse than Capernaum. Humanly speaking, Capernaum looked far better than Sodom in regards to its moral and ethical integrity. However, at the Day of Judgment, the people of Sodom would do better in God’s eyes. Why? Even if they looked good to human eyes, they failed to accept Jesus as the Son of God, despite his overwhelming miracles! God demands faith! This is the only way to honor Him as God! But they failed to do so!

Here, Jesus repeated his warning of the coming judgment twice - once against Korazin and Bethsaida and then against Capernaum.

When something is repeated twice, it is important! We must listen! When there is anything that hinders us from believing in Jesus, we must repent  and accept him as the Savior of our lives.

Here also, he mentioned the Day of Judgment twice [Matthew 11:22, 24]. The people of Sodom had died long before Jesus’ day, but he said that they would face judgment on the Day of Judgment. What does it mean that the dead will be judged?

“Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,” (Hebrews 9:27).

“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars-- their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." (Revelation 21:8).

Here, the second death means eternal judgment after our physical death. We live about 100 years and will all eventually die. 100 years from now, in the year 2111, who will be here? No one. It is certain that we will all die. Likewise, it is also certain that we will face judgment after our death. This judgment will divide mankind into two groups: one group to eternal judgment in the fiery lake of burning sulfur and the other to a life with God in eternal peace and joy.

So whether or not we face the second death of eternal judgment, our eternal life with God will be determined by what we do now. If we reject Jesus like the people of Capernaum did, then we will certainly be judged and sent to hell for eternity. If we believe in Jesus and accept him as our Lord, then we will be welcomed into God’s eternal blessing. Judgment is certain and Jesus will be the judge. He will welcome all those who believe in him, but anyone who rejects him will be condemned to the eternal fiery lake of burning sulfur.

This was very distressing that all these towns, where Jesus had performed so many miracles, had rejected to believe he was the Messiah. Only a handful of people came to believe in him! Was there any way to open even those unbelieving minds to his message?

3.    The Father’s will is to reveal the truth to these little ones [Matthew 11:25-27].

“At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.” (Matthew 11:25).

We have discussed that they rejected Jesus because they did not repent of their ways. However, from God’s perspective, it was His will to hide all of His truth from the learned and the wise. The learned and the wise are those who rely on their own minds to figure out what life is about. They are the ones who depend on their intellectual abilities and human capacity to reason and understand their own lives and the lives of others. They cannot go one inch beyond what their intellect allows. John says this more precisely:

“children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.” (John 1:13).

Here are two groups of people: one born of God and the other not born of God. They are as they were born from their mothers, born of natural descent, human decision, or a husband’s will. So “born of natural descent” means we live by whatever we learned from our parents. “Human decision” means that one makes their decisions based on whatever we have learned from our society. “Of a husband’s will” means that one makes decisions based on their relationship with other human beings. As long as we only go by these things, there is no way to clearly see God and His blessing. God hid His truth from these people. Simply, as long as we are not born of God, the truth is hidden from our eyes.

Read the second part of Matthew 11:25; He revealed His truth to little children.

Here, God reveals His truth to particular people, referred to as little children! These little children did not make decisions based on what they knew, but on who they trust! They trust their parents! So whatever their parents say, they listen to and accept it! So it is not by way of intellectual abilities, but by faith, that we are saved! When the Bible says that God was happy to reveal His truth to these little children, it means that He was happy to accept their faith! So God’s truth is revealed to us when we put our trust in Jesus! It is His prerogative and His way! Faith is God’s way! Why?

Because faith is the only way to give God the glory of which He is worthy, as the Creator and Lord of life. Jesus healed all the sick and even raised the dead! Through these healings, Jesus demonstrated his power as the creator of life as well. He demonstrated his authority over our lives by healing all diseases. We must give Jesus full credit as the one who created and has authority over our lives. He can even raise the dead to life. It is by faith we are healed!

“Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.” (Matthew 11:26).

Almost all of these three town’s people had rejected Jesus. It is sad that they would face such judgment. Nonetheless, God was happy over these few little ones who had believed. He was happy because they had faith in His Son, Jesus! When God was about to destroy the city of Sodom, He said He would relinquish His decision if there were ten righteous people. He would be happy even with just ten who would honor Him.

The majority of the people of this age live in unbelief, but God is happy with even those very few who will honor Him as Lord, and honor His Son, Jesus. He is happy to reveal the truth to these few little ones! You are the source of God’s happiness. He is eager to reveal His truth to you, men of faith!

"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Matthew 11:27).

a.    This talks about men’s blindness. No man can see and understand God, except the Son. No one understands the Son, except God the Father. Simply, no human mind can capture the truth about God and His Son. Particularly, no one knew what the Son was about to do! It was not revealed, even by the rich history found in the Old Testament. No human being could fathom it! Even his disciples had yet to recognize this truth!

b.    God has committed everything to Jesus. So what Jesus was about to do was so important in revealing God’s truth, regarding men’s salvation. This implies what Jesus would go through - his suffering and death as a redeeming sacrifice.

c.    Jesus is God’s exclusive agent through whom He imparts His knowledge and power of salvation! No one else! In view of men’s thorough failure, Jesus did something remarkable that no one could fathom! He gave his own life as a ransom for many out of his love for sinners. Through His Son, Jesus, God would impart great truth and the knowledge of salvation to all human beings! However, this was yet to be revealed in Jesus’ life. Having such exclusive truth, he invited all to come to him. He continues to offer God’s exclusive blessing today.

4.    Come to me and I will give you rest [Matthew 11:28-30].

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28).

Jesus does not invite everyone on the earth, only particular ones. They are those who are weary and burdened. Who are the weary? Weary has to do with men’s strength; their strength can run out. When we are young, we seldom feel weary because we have enough energy to do many things. After spending all night playing games, we still have energy to sit in class the next day. However, our strength will eventually be drained completely until we give away our lives to death.

Who are the ones that are burdened? We have many things to do in our lives. We have to study, work, our marriage, and our house. So many of us are burdened with having to meet all of these have-to’s.

But here, the burdens mentioned are much more than those we normally think of. In Matthew 5-7, Jesus taught about the life and mindset of those who are fit to enter the kingdom of God. There, Jesus said that anything less than life-giving love is hate. So unless we love one another as we love ourselves, we are wrong and burdened by the greatest burden of all - sin. We are not good enough to enter the kingdom of God. We have to pay off all of our sin debts with our life; all die and we must bear the burden of death. However, we know that there is no way that we can pay off this debt and live! We are also burdened with the desire to enter the kingdom of God and escape the second death! To those who know the gravity of this life, Jesus is inviting them in and offering them rest. What kind of rest was Jesus offering?

The first appearance of rest is in Genesis 1, when God rested from all of His work of creation. So His people are also to rest on the Sabbath day. Since Jesus resurrected on Sunday, his disciples decided to take rest on Sunday by worshipping together. This is why we still worship on Sundays.

However, these rests are only a glimpse of what is yet to come - eternal rest with God in peace and joy. That rest is in Jesus’ kingdom. He offers this eternal rest to everyone who is weary and burdened.

How then can we find that rest? Jesus said that he will give us rest. He himself will provide it for us, so all we need to do is come to him and do what he tells us to do.

“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.” (Matthew 11:29).

Jesus is asking us to take his yoke and learn from him. We know that a yoke is a device put on animals, commonly oxen, so that man may control them. A yoke takes away freedom and burdens the animal with some load to carry or plow to haul. So the moment we hear about yoking ourselves, we don’t like it. But when two animals are yoked together to plow the ground, something different will happen.

First, the burden becomes light. Its load becomes only half as much. Also, if one is yoked with a mighty man, then his burden is even lighter.

Second, when an ox is yoked with another ox, they are working side by side. Wherever one goes, the other goes also. There is no way each one can go their own separate way.

Likewise, Jesus offers to yoke us to him so that, wherever he goes, we may go with him. However, here, he says that he is going to take all of our burdens and we just need to walk with him. Wherever he goes, we go; whatever he does, we must stand by him in faith. Whatever he says, we must take it to heart, as his disciples did. When Jesus said he was going to die, the disciples stood by him. When he was crucified, many hurled insults at him, but the disciples bore with him except few. When he came back from the dead, the disciples gathered together with him. This is what it means to take Jesus’ yoke upon oneself - going through his suffering, death, and resurrection. If one does so, God will impart His blessings. This yoke is much easier than bearing the yoke of sin.

Jesus is also the Son of the mighty God. He can carry all of our loads as we walk with him. Our burdens are so light with him that we can go through even the worst crises of life.

The heaviest or worst burden we face is death. It is too much for anyone  to bear, but Jesus is willing to bear it on our behalf if we are willing to take up his yoke and walk with him.

When Jesus takes our burdens of death, then there will be only life. This is eternal rest with God.

So what we should do?

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me” (Matthew 11:29).

We need to take up Jesus’ yoke and learn from him! He is gentle and kind enough to lead us, each step of our lives. So when we take his yoke, no matter how weak or ungodly we are, , we can pull through and find eternal rest that can never be taken away.