Matthew 11:25-30
This passage is from Chapter 11 in Matthew’s gospel. It begins with the disciples of John asking Jesus if he is the Messiah or should they look for another. Jesus doesn’t directly answer the question but praises John, and then goes on to say the least in the kingdom of Heaven is greater than he. Then Jesus talks about how “this generation” is never satisfied, and illustrates that by pointing out that the towns in which he has worked his great miracles have not become converted. Remember the gospel when Jesus drove the demons into pigs? The people begged him to leave them alone. Jesus implies that those who do follow him are not the wise and learned -- seeming to imply the Pharisees and the priests, but “little ones” -- people who aren’t wise and learned, the common people, the tradesmen, the outcasts.
Jewish religious leaders had studied the scriptures and had come up with 613 separate commandments. A good Jew was expected to know them and follow them. They covered about anything you could imagine. One of the commandments was to for each male Jew to write a copy of the commandments for himself. Another was not to gather imperfect clusters of grapes from your vineyard. Still another is not to eat a worm found in a piece of fruit. In any event, the rabbi’s referred to all these commandments as a yoke. You can imagine how a fisherman like Saint Peter looked at these rules. And Paul was very proud of the fact that he was a stickler for following the law.
As Jesus looks out upon his followers as he is speaking he tells them in effect, that his yoke is easy, his burden light. As you can imagine, this message was probably very popular.
Jesus asks the crowds to learn from him because he is meek and humble of heart. What does this mean? Meekness is not cowering in the corner, or letting someone walk all over you. Jesus was not that. When you read the gospels you don’t see a coward; Jesus speaks his mind and works miracles and at least one time got kind of violent. Meekness has within it being patient. If I want something and am willing to wait for it, that’s meekness. Jesus wants our hearts and wants us to join him in building up the kingdom of heaven, but he gives us time and opportunity and puts up with our failures. Sometimes our image of God centers on his majesty, his power, and his judgment. We think of God as someone who might smite you for going off the rails. Jesus tells us that isn’t an accurate picture of God. In the Book of Revelation we meet the souls who have been martyred and are waiting under the altar. They say “how long till we are avenged?” and the Lord answers, be patient a little longer because there will be more joining you before the end. Jesus is meek, and urges us to be meek.
Jesus is humble of heart. A proud person sees the universe revolving around him or her. If there is an offense, the proud person refuses to forgive. “Who does he think that he is?” the proud person asks. He or she is not concerned with returning the sinner to a loving relationship. His or her only concern is with vengeance, getting the sinner back for the offense. That is not the way of the Lord. He is humble of heart. His concern is not with how he has been offended. His concern is how to rescue the sinner from the consequences of his sin.
Jesus is contrasting himself with the religious authorities of his day. They had no patience with failure. IF you were labeled a sinner, a Pharisee would cross the street to avoid walking near you. Forgiveness from your sin was an ordeal, involving sacrifice of an animal or a bird, the more the better. And if you were a public sinner, like a leper you had to have a priest certify that you were reformed.
And we all have a picture from the gospels of the religious authorities demanding recognition of their importance. They would wear tassels on their clothing as the law prescriptive, but they’d make them long and ornate. They would have someone blow a trumpet to call attention to their contribution to the temple treasury. Jesus is not that, he’s humble of heart.
When he invites us to take his yoke, he is promising to lend us his strength to face whatever we have ahead of us. He offers to be our partner, our coach, as we go through life. And he invites us to imitate him, because he is the only one who can reveal the father to us but asks only that we also must be meek and humble of heart so that we can receive his gentle help.
