Daily Good News – Gospel with Disturbances

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Jul 15, 2015 1537

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

In Judaism the ‘yoke’ was a well-known metaphor for the ‘law’. When Jesus invited people to “take my yoke upon you”, he was daring them to transfer to him the moral authority and governance, which had till then been exercised upon them by the law.

Jesus does not just model a spirituality for us to use; it uses us. He gives us rest when he forgives and heals our brokenness. But it is a rest which is realised in an allegiance he calls a yoke. Those who find the truest satisfactions of Christ are those who, having received his gifts of mercy, take up the privilege of service. They accept the gospel’s consolations along with its disturbances.

The gospel solves the biggest problems of existence, while conferring some interim ones—the needs of our fellow human beings. Jesus brings comfort but not ease. When we do not know God and his Son Jesus, we can ignore the suffering of the human race and be glad it’s them and not us. Because we have met Jesus, he shares with us his weighty compassion for the multitude. This is his gift to us, as truly as his gift of rest.