What does this mean? What is involved in 'coming to' Jesus?
Matt 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
In our last post we looked at the ‘rest’ of God. Today we will consider the cultural context of this invitation. At the time Jesus spoke this, it was common to ‘follow’ a certain rabbi. This was a discipleship relationship, and the followers were said to be ‘yoked’ to that rabbi.
“By simply watching and listening to a prospective rabbi in the time of Jesus, one could know almost immediately who his discipler was.
During the lifetime of Jesus there were four things any disciple did when following a particular rabbi:
1. They memorized his words. 2. They adopted his interpretation of Scripture. 3. They imitated his ministry model. 4. They multiplied his teaching in disciples of their own.
In the time of Jesus, taking the yoke of the rabbi reflected a disciple’s willing submission and adherence to his rabbi’s interpretation and application of the Old Testament Scriptures… Identifying the rabbi a disciple followed was easy. Disciples did not teach their own personal interpretation of Scripture. They taught their rabbi’s interpretation. This was true for the disciples of Hillel, Shammai, Gamaliel, and all the other rabbis of the 1st Century. It was also true of the disciples that followed Yeshua of Nazareth.” https://www.discipledaily.org/yoke-of-the-rabbi/
The requirements of the rabbi often went far beyond the Law – it became a heavy yoke, a burden. So it is within that backdrop that Jesus says, “Come and follow Me. You must be exhausted by the burden of ceremonial observances and human traditions of whichever rabbi you are following. My yoke – My discipleship relationship – is easy, not harsh. My burden is light, not crushing”.
Consider the many different religions on the earth today. Most offer ‘freedom’ or ‘enlightenment’ or ‘a path to God’ that is filled with requirements and ceremonies and rules that are not only burdensome, but do not and cannot lead to God (John 14:6). Even in Christendom it seems that people are always trying to complicate the gospel by adding their own requirements, rules and traditions to it.
To all of this, Jesus STILL says, ‘Come to ME…MY yoke is easy and MY burden is light’.
Rom 10:9-10 makes it very clear “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
It is important that we understand that this confession is of Jesus as Lord – not just “Savior” (although that is included). “Lord” means ‘master’ – “Lord” means I submit my life to Him. This is not merely a mental assent to the fact that Jesus died for my sins. James 2:19 tells us, “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.” This is a submission of my life to Jesus as Lord because He, as Savior, paid for it. He paid for MY life with HIS life. He paid the penalty for MY sin (not just everything I ever did/do/will do ‘wrong’, but every time I came/come/will come short of God’s standard) so that I could be restored to relationship with the Father. This is a complete change of heart, and therefore a complete change of life. This begins our discipleship relationship. And that relationship, that ‘yoke’ is easy, (chrestos): useful, good, kind, gracious, not harsh.
I grew up believing Jesus was the Son of God and the Savior of the World. BUT there was a day that I made Him MY Savior and Lord. After reading the Gospel of Mark, the Holy Spirit graciously “turned on the light” and I realized that I needed to repent (turn from) living life my own way, and turn my life over to Him. I think I prayed something simple like, “Jesus, forgive me for my sins, for living my life my own way. Thank you that you paid for my sins on the cross. I give You my life – I want to know You and live for you.”
That day, my knowledge of Jesus went from my head to my heart, and I have spent the subsequent years getting to know Him more and more through the Bible, prayer and in relationship with other believers.
It is not keeping the rules and ceremonies of any certain church that ‘saves’ you. Neither will God weigh your 'good' works vs your sins or failings/faults to determine where you spend eternity. NO ONE is 'good' compared to God. He desires that NONE perish, but ALL come to eternal life through sincere faith in Jesus Christ. We need to read the Bible for ourselves (start with the Gospels!) to see what God said – not what man has added to it.
So if you cannot mark the day that you turned from sin and turned to Jesus, you likely have a ‘head knowledge’ of Him. The very fact that you are reading this is evidence that He is calling you to an intimate, personal, saving relationship with Him. Will you respond?
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