Source: https://williamshiggins.net/tag/sabbath/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 13:57:18+00:00

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A yoke is often used metaphorically to speak of being in subjection to someone – in Jeremiah it refers to being subjected to the Babylonian empire. And in the New Testament it is used to refer to slavery (1 Timothy 6:1).
Now let’s look at our verses.
Jesus talks of “all who labor and are heavy laden.” The first word “labor” has to do with hard work and also the weariness that comes from it. The second word can also be translated as “burdened.” So the image is of a person with a yoke on, but the load is really heavy and it takes a lot of work just to move around. Think of the two buckets in our picture as bigger and loaded down with heavy rocks.
Jesus is certainly talking here about the traditions of the elders which the Pharisees added to the Law, or God’s will. Jesus talks about this in Matthew 23:4, where he says, “they tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear and lay them on people’s shoulders.” These are rules about how far you can walk on a Sabbath, rules about healing on the Sabbath and on and on (see the stories that come right after our verses). You name the activity in life and there were rules for it; lots of them. Rules, rules, rules. Rules that went beyond the Law of Moses, but you had to follow them to be accepted.
Well, Jesus rejected these traditions of the Elders (Matthew 15:6). He doesn’t load us down with a host of human rules; things that go beyond God’s will for our lives.
Maybe you are carrying a yoke today of human rules and expectations that are not God’s will for you. Maybe church rules about how to dress or how to worship that go beyond Scripture, churches are good at making up extra rules. Or maybe expectations for your life that others impose on you that have nothing to do with what God has called you to do.
And you are here this morning and you are tired of it. You are tired of being subjected to carrying this heavy burden around. Jesus is talking to you today in this passage!
There are other yokes and burdens, and I would just mention also the yoke of slavery to Sin (John 8:34; Romans 6:16-20). This is where we live our lives apart from God’s will, doing our own will, going along with the world and our friends. But sin once chosen becomes our master. It comes to control us and take over and it begins to ruin our lives – because sin brings misery and then death.
And you are here this morning and you are tired of the burdens of sin – the shame, the guilt. You are tired of disappointing and hurting others and hurting God – but you can’t break free.
You too have a yoke on, And maybe you are tired of it this morning; you are worn out. Well, Jesus is talking to you this morning in our passage!
I say each one of us, because he says, “Come to me all” who labor and are heavy laden. That’s all of us.
And he says, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me.” In the Old Testament, the Law was seen as a yoke that the people of God bore as they did God’s will (Jeremiah 2:20; 5:5). But here Jesus offers his teaching as the yoke to put on our shoulders – which is the correct interpretation of the Law, or God’s will. As he says in the verses just before ours, the Father has revealed all things to him. And this is what he teaches us.
And so to take on Jesus’ yoke is to live your life according to what he teaches. Not doing more than this by adding on extra human rules, or taking away from it so that we are walking in sin. It is to live according to just what Jesus teaches. We become disciples of Jesus. The word “learn” here is from the same word as the word “disciple.” We become students of Jesus. We study his teaching and example and we do what he says and models for us.
Why will we find rest? Because of who Jesus is – v. 29 – “for I am gentle and lowly in heart.” The first word “gentle” is really meek or lowly. The second word can also be translated as humble in heart. Jesus is not a slave driver. Indeed, he himself came and walked this earth as a servant. And he knows that being in charge means serving others, not lording it over them (Matthew 20:25-28).
We will also find rest because, as he says in v. 30 – “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” “Easy” is better translated as “comfortable” or a yoke that fits just right. “Light” has to do with having little weight.
Now none of this means that following Jesus can’t be hard – there is still a yoke and a burden; there are hard things to do and you can suffer for it. But in comparison to being weighed down under slavery to sin or human traditions it is a comfortable yoke and a light weight. It is God’s will for our life. It is not less than this so that you are living in sin, and it is not more than this so that you are carrying the burdens of human rules. It is simply God’s will, perfectly revealed in Jesus.
I invite you this morning to come to Jesus and find this rest for yourselves . . .
The phrase “doing these things” indicates that Jesus has healed on the Sabbath more than once, although John hasn’t narrated this.
Persecuting can also be translated “prosecuting.” And indeed, this is a trial scene. An informal one, but still the beginnings of Jesus’ later, formal trial.
In this case Jesus has given life on the Sabbath. But he is applying a justification for divine work, to himself. “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” This raises deeper issues about his relationship to God.
So now there are two charges against Jesus . According to them 1) he is breaking the Sabbath, and 2) he is making himself equal to God, grasping after God’s role and glory – which is blasphemy (10:33). [Again, in terms of the first charge, Jesus often contradicted the traditions of the Elders (Mark 7) but he does not break the Sabbath. He is not a Mosaic law breaker or sinner (8:46); he does not annul the Law (10:35)].
The latter charge they see as confirmed in that he calls God “his own Father.” He is claiming a unique relationship with God, which is, in their view, inappropriate.
This is an amazing speech by Jesus. From the handout you can see its parallelism and symmetry. But also there is an intricate intertwining of themes, as well as an astonishing concision – saying so, so much, in so few words. We will go through by theme, not verse by verse. Let’s begin with the second charge having to do with Jesus’ relationship with the Father because this one explains the first, his work on the Sabbath.
One way to say it, is that Jesus is God’s unique agent. An agent is an authorized representative who speaks for and carries out the sender’s will. In Jewish thought “a person’s agent is as himself.” (See m. Ber. 5.5). So he is to be accorded the honor that is due to the sender. To accept an agent is to accept the sender and to reject the agent is to reject the sender. Often the eldest son would act as a father’s agent, for instance in various business transactions.
That Jesus is God’s agent shows up in a number of ways here: In the Father, Son language in this passage; in that Jesus is sent by the Father (v. 23; 24; v. 30); in the note that those who reject the Son reject the Father (v. 23); and in the phrase the Son of Man (v. 27) who is God’s agent of judgment and rule on the final day in Daniel 7:13-14.
In terms of the future Jesus says in vs. 28-29 – “ . . . an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” This is talking about the final day.
And Jesus testifies that he is a good and faithful agent, or Son of his Father.
In v. 20 Jesus says, “the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing.” This is a continuous revelation of the Father’s will to him, so there is no danger that he is out of touch with God. He is the ultimate agent and Son, fully obedient to the mission he has been sent to fulfill.
So Jesus doesn’t make himself God. He is not exalting himself or grasping after a status. He is rather completely subordinate to the Father only doing what he says, and receiving what the Father gives him in terms of giving life and judging. But precisely by being subordinate, he becomes equal to God by being and doing what only God is and does. Because it is the Father’s will to make him equal.
In answer to the charge: He does not make himself anything. It is the Father who makes him equal. The Son subordinates himself to the Father, but the Father lifts the Son up. So, if you think about it, Jesus is both subordinate to the Father and equal with the Father at the same time, the first by his own doing, the second by the Father’s doing.
Jesus doesn’t dishonor God in is claims about his relationship with the Father. Rather they dishonor God in rejecting him. As he says in v. 23 – “Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” They are rejecting God’s authorized agent, which is a rejection of him.
But here his defense is clearly focused on his identity; who he is. Jesus is God’s authorized agent; He is God’s Son. And so just as God gives life on the Sabbath, Jesus also gives life on the Sabbath.
As v. 19 says, speaking of the healing, “The Son can nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” In other words, it was the Father’s will to heal this man and so Jesus, as God’s agent, healed him.
And as he says in v. 20 they will marvel at greater works than a healing on the Sabbath. He says in v. 28 “do not marvel at this,” marvel that the Son will one day raise the dead. Yes, as God’s agent he told one man to rise up and walk, but on the final day, as God’s agent, he will raise all the dead.
To those who can accept and believe that Jesus is God’s agent, then all this makes perfect sense. For the Jewish leaders who did not accept this, Jesus comes across as a lawbreaker and a blasphemer. As we will see next time, Jesus puts forward his positive case in vs. 31-47, as well as bringing counter charges against his opponents.
1. Do you accept that Jesus is God’s agent? Almost everybody likes Jesus.. But they usually pick and choose what they like and then fill the rest in with what they think is right. A little of Jesus and then a little (or a lot) of what I think is right.
Do you accept Jesus’ claim to fully and perfectly make know the Father? And then do you live your life by his words and example?
2. Have you received the life that Jesus gives? Jesus said in v. 24, “whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” You can receive, right now, the life that Jesus gives. It is not something that comes later. Jesus gives eternal life now by faith. Do you believe? Will you receive the gift that the Father gives through his Son?
3. Are you ready for the final day? As Jesus said, the day is coming “when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (v. 25). Indeed “all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (vs. 28-29).
We will be judged by our deed. This is the consistent teaching of Scripture. That’s because our deeds truly reveal what is in our hearts, whether we have faith in God and have been transformed by his gift of grace and life. Will you be raised to the resurrection of life?

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