HIS YOKE IS EASY

“The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about Him. Then the chief priests and Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest Him. Jesus said, ‘I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me. You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am you cannot come.’ The Jews said to one another, ‘Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find Him? Will He go where our people live scattered among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?’

“‘What did He mean when He said, ‘When you look for me you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?'” John 7:32-35 (NIV).

Jesus was such a cool customer and the religious leaders were so flustered! They did not realise that they couldn’t arrest Him; try as they may, because His time had not yet come.

His cryptic words had them really confused. They did not like the people’s interest in Him. The situation was getting dangerous and they were losing their power and influence over them. It had to be stopped and yet they could not get Him into their clutches.

What was Jesus telling these spiritual leaders of Israel? Compare His words with the words He spoke to His disciples in the Upper Room on the eve of His death.

“‘I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you may also be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.'” John 14:2b-4 (NIV).

Why did He say to the Jews, ‘Where I am you cannot come,’? And yet He told His disciples that He would come and take them to where He was? It all sounds so confusing unless we understand the difference between the reception the Jews gave Jesus and the attitude of the disciples.

It’s about that little word, “believe” again. Believing is more than giving intellectual assent to a fact. In Hebrew thought, to believe something intellectually without acting on it was a useless and meaningless exercise. To believe meant to take seriously and act on what one believes. To believe what Jesus said was to take Him seriously and do what He said.

How many “believers” are there who give intellectual assent to Jesus as Lord but continue to live their lives as though He does not exist? This attitude has sullied the credibility of the church and misrepresented what it is, a living organism, the body of Christ, not an organisation. Jesus gave us two criteria for credibility in the eyes of the world; the love we have for one another that proves that we are His disciples and our unity which witnesses to the fact that He was sent by the Father.

Jesus did not call us to be rigid followers of doctrine but loyal followers of our Master. He gave His life rather than break the unity between Himself and the Father and yet so many of us are too busy fighting to be right than following Him. There are three responsibilities of the believer that will make us credible followers of Jesus:

1. To protect love;

2. To preserve unity;

3. To promote contentment.

I yearn for a return to the simplicity of Jesus’ invitation: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, 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.” Matthew11:28-30 (NIV).

He is telling us, the young, inexperienced “oxen” to join Him, the old, experienced “ox” in His yoke (His way of doing life) so that He can teach us how to live burden-free in a relationship of loving union and submission to Him!

The Jews refused. Will you believe and be joined to Jesus?

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.