The Easy Yoke

This year I learned more about Jesus through a difficult situation that happened in our family. Most of us heard the phrase, “Little kids, little problems. Big kids, big problems.” Such it has been for my wife and I, and we have been forced to drink the bitter waters of failure, disappointment, and brokenness through the actions of one of our own family. Yet, through this storm, Jesus has proven once again to be sufficient.

In Matthew 11:28–30, Jesus commands us to take his yoke. He also says, learn from me. I often have the wrong idea in my head (and heart) that I am like a fine wine, improving with age. Culture teaches that we spend some time learning something, and then we graduate; the learning is over. What I find to be true, though, is that age reveals ever wider circles of my life that need further education. Rather than arriving at a final destination, in which I can rest upon my prior learning, I am drawn into greater awareness of my need for sanctification.

Does that mean that I am on a spiritual treadmill that continually serves up opportunities for character development? If so, where is the rest that Jesus speaks to in this passage? It has been said that no great thing can be accomplished without struggle and sacrifice. I love that sentiment, but I do not enjoy walking through it.

Sanctification, of course, lives on the other side of the cross. To be freed from the old man we must leave this life and enter his direct presence. A friend of ours (who is getting on in years) likes to say, “I don’t mind dying. It is the getting dead part I don’t look forward to.” That is what we experience. It is what I experience when I go through struggles. It is the old man dying a slow and painful death. In its place, though, is the new man.

That is how I read the phrase, “for I am gentle and lowly in heart.” The reason the old man only goes with much anguish is because I am not “lowly in heart.” When trials and tribulations come my way, it is often because of what it does to my reputation, my plans, my desires, and a host of other mys. It is the continual surrender of these things that, in humility, shows whose yoke I am bearing. The ripping away of my pride and selfishness is harsh. It stands in contrast to Jesus’ gentle nature.

That is what I have been learning about Jesus.

Key Quotation

The ripping away of my pride and selfishness is harsh. It stands in contrast to Jesus’ gentle nature.

Question

How are you learning from Jesus in your current life circumstances?

Ted Esler, Missio Nexus