As I began reading this morning, I saw that the passage begins with “after Jesus gave them these instructions…” I didn’t remember reading any instructions lately. Then I noticed that we don’t read the previous chapter until next week! I’m interested to find out why…
Aha. It’s because the majority of this chapter is about John the Baptist, but Matthew has some information that we didn’t have in Luke 7. In Luke, Jesus is shown healing the dead son of the widow from Nain and the disciples are present. The text then goes directly to John sending his disciples to see Jesus, with no mention of Jesus’ disciples being sent out. So let me get this straight in my head here…..
John is thrown into prison, but his disciples are keeping him updated on what’s going on with the ministry. One day they tell him some of the things that Jesus is doing, like bringing this dead kid back to life I imagine….and John sends them to ask Jesus if He is the Messiah. At the same time, Jesus is sending out His disciples to the towns they will be in later on the journey. As Jesus’ disciples leave, Johns’ disciples show up and ask some questions.
I continue to wonder why John the Baptist would have questions about who Jesus was. It was John who called Him the “Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world”. Of course He’s the Messiah, John. How can you not understand that!?
Then again…
John is looking for a powerful deliverer. Just like all the other Jews, he must believe that the Messiah is coming to defeat the current invaders of Israel, as well as to make the people a holy possession. I imagine the John has something in mind like the kingdom of David or Solomon, where the army of Israel is seemingly invincible, and all other nations bow before them. In fact, if you remember reading Jeremiah, Isaiah or Ezekiel….you can see how a person could believe that quite easily. John, as great a prophet as he was, hasn’t been given the whole picture. He only knows that part that he plays, and what he is supposed to say. He isn’t privileged to see everything…like us, he has to believe based on faith. And he does.
John probably saw Jesus’ disciples baptizing people and thought “why does He need to do that? That’s what I’m doing”. He probably saw the miracles and large crowds…but didn’t see any plans for overthrow of the government being drawn up, so he wondered if this guy “Jesus” was another prophet or the conquering Messiah. One thing is for certain….Jesus didn’t act like a conquering Messiah.
There’s a paragraph towards the bottom of the text that talks about the impending judgment of unbelievers. I’m sure the topic will resurface again, so I’m not going to spend time on it today. Instead I want to muse for a few moments about the idea that Jesus offers a light burden that is easy to carry.
A yoke was a large wooden collar that fit over the shoulders of an ox, or other large farm animal. Usually I see them used with oxen. If the yoke is correctly made, it fits snugly without rubbing or creating pressure points. When it fits perfectly, the animal can pull large loads without any harm to themselves. Christians are “under yoke”, we aren’t free to wander off to do whatever we want. A yoke pairs to animals together, and as believers we are joined together under the yoke of Christ. Jesus says that his yoke is “easy” which would probably mean that it won’t hurt us, or be painful to work under. Maybe there is a reference to the type of pulling that is required, or the type of partners that we are yoked to…I’m not sure. To me, and “easy yoke” could mean any or all of those things.
Then, there is the burden we are called to carry. If we stay in the context of the yoked animals, the burden is something we are pulling along behind us. Or, Jesus could be changing the image to a pack animal. Again, I’m not sure…but I tend to favor the previous.
The burden that God gives us is “light”. If you want to see God angry, listen to Him chew out the Pharisees because they “burdened people unnecessarily” in Matthew 23:13-15 and 23:23-25.
I want to make sure not to make the same mistake as the Pharisees and religious leaders, so I am taking a very critical look at my own thoughts and beliefs for a moment. For instance, I cannot say that complete abstinence from drinking is required to be “holy”. Just like I can’t comment on which denomination or local church would be best. In fact, there are probably some who will be in heaven that won’t set a foot inside the church. God’s burden is “light”….He doesn’t require everything that we have come to believe that He does. The thief on the cross, the blind man, the Samaritan woman, the demon possessed man….and don’t forget the shady woman who anointed His feet with perfume…..they are all proof that forgiveness comes first, and life change must be the process that follows. We cannot insist that others do what we do, or live in obedience to our convictions. Jesus gave very few requirements to enter into heaven, and that’s a fact. The disciples began to build on what Jesus taught and made suggestions for how to live a holy life, and we have continued in them, but they aren’t all mandated for salvation. That kind of thinking is what got the Pharisees in trouble.
Of course, I can’t end on that thought, because it doesn’t completely express my view on the matter. From where I stand, those who partake of alcoholic beverages fail to quit drinking when they should, and create many social and spiritual problems for themselves. Better to leave the alcohol alone. And those who tell me “I don’t need to go to church” are very often the first ones the devil picks off…because they are away from the rest of the body…and you know what happens when you get out away from the rest of the herd…the predators begin to creep in. There are probably a few people going to heaven that don’t attend church regularly, but there are many, many more who don’t attend that think they’re going to heaven, but are in for a sharp disappointment on Judgment day.
More on that later…
Faithfully,
PR