March 25, 2020 (Wednesday)
(Matthew 11:28-30 King James Version (KJV)
Yesterday’s blog featured the very same scripture verses as today. They are quoted above so that I may comment on them in a different way from the approach I took yesterday, when I suggested that the hymn, “Jesus, I Come,” can be considered a response to the invitation of Jesus to become His follower. “Jesus, I Come” can be considered the response to Jesus’ invitation; “take my yoke” clarifies the nature of Jesus’ call to follow Him.
“In the time of Jesus, taking the yoke of the rabbi reflected a disciple’s willing submission and adherence to his rabbi’s interpretation and application of the Old Testament Scriptures. In the Gospels accounts, we are introduced to the phrase ‘traditions of men.’ Identifying the rabbi a disciple followed was easy. Disciples did not teach their own personal interpretation of Scripture. They taught their rabbi’s interpretation. This was true for the disciples of Hillel, Shammai, Gamaliel, and all the other rabbis of the 1st Century. It was also true of the disciples that followed Jesus of Nazareth.” (quoted from the web site, “Disciple Daily.”)
The disciples of Jesus called him, “Rabbi.” They were his followers. Jesus is pointing out the difference between His teachings and those of the Jewish teachers. Make no mistake–if you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, you take his “yoke.” You live by His teachings.
Jesus announced to the multitudes that if they chose Him instead of the religious leaders of that era, they would be agreeing to live a new kind of life in Him. He did not teach the “traditions of men,” but the word of God.
Many teachers of religion today place Jesus of Nazareth in history alongside other great teachers and leaders. But He is different. He is unique. He is the eternal Son of the living God. He took upon Himself our sins when He died on the Cross, and He rose from the dead. There is no tomb anywhere in the world that can boast that it contains the remains of Jesus. He conquered death. He arose from the dead. He lives.
Follow Him, “take His yoke” upon yourself, and find “rest for your souls.”
ALL THINGS IN JESUS
Author: Harry Dixon Loes
Harry Dixon Loes (1892–1965) was a well-known Christian hymn writer who wrote many prominent Christian hymns, including This Little Light of Mine (1920) and Blessed Redeemer (1920) with Avis Christiansen.
1 Friends all around us are trying to find
What the heart yearns for, by sin undermined;
I have the secret, I know where ’tis found:
Only in Jesus true pleasures abound.
Chorus:
All that I want is in Jesus;
He satisfies, joy He supplies;
Life would be worthless without Him,
All things in Jesus I find.
2 Some carry burdens whose weight has for years
Crushed them with sorrow and blinded with tears;
Yet One stands ready to help them just now,
If they with faith and in penitence bow. (Chorus)
3 No other name thrills the joy chords within,
And thro’ none else is remission of sin;
He knows the pain of the heart sorely tried,
All of its needs will in Him be supplied. (Chorus)
4 Jesus is all this poor world needs today;
Blindly men strive, for sin darkens the way.
O to draw back the grim curtains of night–
One glimpse of Jesus, and all will be bright. (Chorus)