TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU

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TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU

These are designed to be 10-15 minute meditation practices. If you don't complete the practice then good! Come back for more tomorrow and until it completes a work in your soul rhythms.
​Scripture Contemplation Guide: 1. Invite the Holy Spirit to speak, resonate, reveal, and renovate you. 2. Read through the passage and take in the landscape. What thought does the landscape provoke? What word or phrase pops from the passage of scripture for you? 3. Read slowly through the passage a second time and meditate in silence. What do you hear as you wait in God's presence? 4. Pray conversationally through the scripture to your good Father. Ask Him questions, tell Him about the things you are wrestling with in the passage. Cast your cares on Jesus, be candid, thorough, authentic, and most of all be you. 5. Now thank the Lord for the work He is doing in you and then come back for more as needed!

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Take my yoke upon you…

Matthew 11:28–30
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

The Greek word translated “carpenter” used in Matthew 13 to describe Joseph refers to a finish carpenter rather than for a framer. Tradition has it that the carpenter shop where Jesus worked with His father, Joseph, specialized in making yokes and fitting things like stone together like a structural mason of sorts. To yoke two oxen together, the skilled craftsmen designed the yoke to fit each ox individually and it was the same in stone laying. However, in designing yokes since there was always a lead ox yoked together with one who would follow, the yoke was designed in such a way that the lead ox would pull the greater weight. The follower, or assistant ox, was just to go with the flow.

Take My yoke upon you…

Jesus used an analogy well known to the people who listened to Him when He said not only, “Come unto Me,” but, “Yoke with Me. Let Me be the lead ox. Go with My flow. Don’t try to figure out or change My direction. Let Me lead you.”

The story is told of a battleship cruising the Atlantic, off the northern coast of Maine. One stormy evening, the commander was notified, “Sir, there’s a light ahead. Oncoming vessel.”
“Signal the oncoming vessel: change your courses ten degrees to the west.”
The message was sent.
But a light flashed back, “Change your course ten degrees to the east.”
“Signal again,” barked the commander. “Change your course ten degrees to the west. I am an admiral!”
The light flashed back, “Change your course ten degrees to the east. I am a Seaman Third Class.”
By this time, the admiral was incensed as he thundered, “Signal again: Change your course ten degrees to the west. I am a battleship.”
And the message came back, “Change your course ten degrees to the east. I am a lighthouse.”
So, too, as we impudently and impetuously say to the Lord, “Lord, let’s go my way,” He answers...

“No. We’re going My way.”
I am the Lighthouse
I am the Light of the world,
The Rock of your salvation,
The Creator and Sustainer of your soul.
I am the Alpha and the Omega,
The One who knows the beginning from the end.
Trust Me.

Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart…

This is the only autobiographical statement Jesus ever made.
He didn’t say, “Learn of Me because I am majestic and mighty,” or “Learn of Me because I am powerful and prominent.” He said, “That which you discover when you learn of Me will refresh you, for I am meek.”
What is meekness? Meekness is strength under control.

Picture a big, gentle Saint Bernard surrounded by yapping, snapping, little Chihuahuas. Now the Saint Bernard could open his mouth and chomp the Chihuahuas down in one gulp. He could take his paw and knock them away with one swipe. But the powerful Saint Bernard patiently puts up with the yappers and snappers at his feet. That’s meekness.

When I study the Scriptures and learn of Jesus, I am always amazed at His goodness, His grace, His kindness, His gentleness, and His meekness.
Jesus says, “Come to Me—you who have been burned out by Pharaoh, you who have been wearied by the folly of sin. Yoke with Me—don’t try to maneuver Me, steer Me, or demand of Me. Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly.” The result?

…And ye shall find rest unto your souls.

You’ll find what your heart is craving: Shabbat. Sabbath. Rest.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

The final consideration for this Acts 15 contemplation is... Questions arose concerning Gentile converts and whether or not they should follow the laws, and the rituals, and whether to be circumcised. Peter gave this response, I’ll state it again:
Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? Acts 15:10
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“My yoke,” Jesus said, “is easy.” It’s not religion—it’s relationship. It’s not Judaism—it’s Jesus. It’s not the law—it’s love.

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