Take the Yoke of Jesus (Matthew 11:28-30)

Matthew 11:28-30 ESV

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.”

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In many ways, the demands of Jesus as a disciple-maker. His interpretation of the law in the Sermon on the Mount is more radical compared to the traditional interpretation. Murder by merely being angry wuth a brother. Adultery by merely lustful glances. Loving your enemies. Praying for your persecutors. These demands and hard and tough.

But this thing we know: unlike the Pharisees who tie up heavy burdens which are hard to bear and lay them on people’s shoulders which they themselves are not willing to move with their fingers, Jesus is most concerned about the weightier matters of the law. His demands are not some arbitrary and unnecessary burdens but things that really matter.

Submit yourself to the discipleship of the world and all you will find are heavy burdens being laid on your shoulders. Their weight is unbearable and after consuming all your energy, you will in the end find out that you labored in vain.

The invitation to come and take the yoke of Jesus is an invitation to discipleship. The “yoke” here is what is put on animals so they could pull heavy loads. Put yourself under the discipleship of Jesus— all you who are weary and heavily burdened. “Take my yoke and learn from me”— that’s a discipleship language because a disciple is a learner. With Jesus, we have the authoritative interpreter of the law. None of the things he teaches is worthless. Every word of Christ satisfies the soul.

Take note also of the character of the disciple-maker. He is gentle and lowly in heart. This is the attitude of our disciple-maker toward us: gentlenes, not harhness; lowliness, not arrogance.

When you do come to Jesus and submit yourself to his gentle discipleship, what will you get? You will find rest. The concept of rest as promised in the Bible is primarily eschatological— that is a rest we garner at the end of time. But in this passage, it is indicated that it also a present reality. We who are tired from carrying unnecessary burdens will find rest in the arms of the gentle and lowly teacher. There is no other place where we could find such rest. Only in Christ. Only in Jesus.

The Present Groaning and the Future Glory (Romans 8:18-23, ESV)

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

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All of God’s children must go through various kinds of suffering in this present life. It is a road we must all pass through to reach the final destination of glorification—the resurrection of our bodies.

So great is this future glory that the passage says the sufferings we are going through, though severely painful, are not even worthy of comparison. In the light of eternity, the size of our sufferings is but a dot, while the joy of the future glory is bigger than a mountain and larger than the planet itself.

When man fell into sin, the effect was cosmic. It affected the whole world. It affected the whole creation. Look at the world and notice every bad and unpleasant thing. In the account of the Bible, it can all be traced back to the curse brought about by our fall into sin in Genesis 3.

So just as our fall into sin brought futility to the whole world, our redemption in the glorification of our bodies will also affect the whole creation, but in a good way.

In this passage, the Apostle Paul employs a type of figurative language called personification. In this literary device, non-personal entities are given the attributes of a person. In this particular case, the whole creation is personified.

Just like us, the whole created order is also suffering. It was subjected to futility. It is in bondage to corruption. And the creation is aware that, with the full redemption of the children of God, it will also be set free. The whole creation has been longing deeply all this time, waiting for our future glory to be fully revealed. It is said to be groaning in the pains of childbirth all along.

Our salvation in Jesus Christ guarantees that all this painful groaning will not last forever. The glorification of God’s children will surely come, and with it, the liberation of a universe in bondage.

Knowing all these, there is no reason to despair. The pains of this world and our own personal sufferings are not meaningless—they are carrying us toward a glorious end.

Christ's Resurrection and Ours (1 Corinthians 15:20-23)

 “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” “Ikaw ay alabok at sa alabok ka babalik.” (Gen. 3:17). Those are just some of the words God told our great ancestor Adam as a punishment for his sin in the garden. That account from Genesis (the book of beginnings) was the foundation of what the Paul is saying in verse 21 that in Adam all die. Elsewhere, the same apostle wrote that "sin came into the world through one man" and "death spread to all men because all sinned" (Rom. 5:12). The sin of Adam brought death upon himself and for all of us who are “in him”. All of humanity descended from one bloodline, the bloodline of Adam. Being in Adam, we all die in our sin.

In our passage, the Apostle Paul talks about the resurrection of Jesus Christ as "the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (verse 20). "Fallen asleep" here is a euphemism of those who died. Sooner or later we will also fall asleep euphemistically. We will all die. But here’s the good news: by using the word “firstfruits”, he was implying a sequence. There must be something to follow; similar to the firstfruits. In fact, the implicit turns explicit in verse 23: the order is

• First: the resurrection of Jesus more than 2,000 ago; followed by

• Second: the resurrection of those who belong to him at his coming.

There is a parallel here. There is symmetry here. On one side, all die in Adam. On the other side, those who are In Christ shall all be made alive.

When it comes to being in Adam, every human being are already in him by virtue of ancestry. But when in comes to being in Christ, not everybody enjoys this gift of life for not everybody trusts in him as the Savior of the world. Come to Christ therefore and have life.

As for you who are already in Christ, rejoice! For the resurrection of Jesus guaranteed that you will be resurrected as well!

As frail, and weak, and sickly our bodies may be right now, they will soon be transformed into glorious bodies. The perishable shall become imperishable. The mortal shall become immortal.