Matthew 11
Not long after the prophet John baptized Jesus, he was unjustly put in prison by the ruler of the land. John had heard the Voice from heaven saying that Jesus was the Son of God, and John had believed that Jesus would set up His rule as King of Israel, and stop all wrong acts; and he must have wondered that Jesus had not freed him from prison. So because of his trouble, he thought Jesus might not be the promised King, and he sent men to ask Jesus,
“Art thou He that should come; or do we look for another?”
Jesus waited to answer until the men had seen the great miracles He did for the people, then He told them to go tell John what they had seen: that the blind were made to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, the lepers cured, the dead raised to life, and the good words of God told. Those were the things which the prophets had written that the One to be sent from God would do (Isa. 29:1818And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. (Isaiah 29:18)).
When John heard the things which Jesus did, as promised in the scriptures, he must have been comforted. Jesus told the people that John was the “messenger” told of by the prophet many years before (Mal. 3:11Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 3:1)).
Although Jesus did the miracles which no one else could do, many would not believe He was from God; He told them that they were more wrong than the people who had not seen His works, but He gave thanks to God for all who did believe, and He gave a most kind invition to all in trouble, He said,
“Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Jesus knew that the people had much trouble because of their sins, just as we have now; even boys and girls sometime find that their sins are the heaviest load that they have, harder to bear than any work. It was the burden of sins from which Jesus offered “rest”, or forgivess. Afterward He suffered on the cross for sinners, and ever since then “rest” has been offered to any who trust, or “come” to Him.
Jesus also said these words to the people:
“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.”
In the country where Jesus was, yokes were used on people as well as on oxen to carry heavy loads; the yokes were placed across the shoulders of one or two persons, and baskets or bundles were fastened at each end of the yoke. If the yokes were made of light wood, the buens were carried easier than without a yoke. But sometimes the yokes were made of heavy wood, the loads were too large, and the masters were cruel. Jesus said that His “yoke” was easy and His “burden” was light.
We know that Jesus did not mean that He would put real yokes on the people: He meant if they would let Him be their Master, that He would share their “burdens”, and the work He would give them to do for Him, would not be too hard, for He was not harsh, but “lowly”, humble. So let us be thankful that Jesus is willing to take our burdens of sins, and all we need to do is to accept His invitation to “come” to Him. He will then give us things to do for Him, and will also share our troubles on the way through this world, as a loving Master.
ML 04/04/1943