Thursday July 20, 2023

Matthew 11:28-30

Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’

I unofficially translated this verse a few weeks ago. I took into consideration my experience growing up in the old country and being part of a culture that still uses oxen to plough, and transport things. So in my mind Jesus says “My yoke fits perfectly and therefore lightens the burden.” Think about it this way. Wearing the wrong kind of shoes could in the long run hurt you. Your shoes have to fit perfectly. When you go buy running shoes they actually video the way you walk and based on that recommend the almost perfect shoe. Yokes are the same in the old country. They are made for the specific animal. The wrong yoke can actually kill the animal in the long run.

So what does this all mean? Jesus rejects the one size fits all kind of religion. Think ancient near East. The place is saturated with rules and laws. The Jewish religion at this time has 613 commandments. 365 of them are prohibitions “thou shall not.” It is burdensome!! Jesus says, I give you two commandments: love God, love neighbor, the rest is commentary.

Even two commandments sometimes might be hard depending on who your neighbor is. How about one commandment: Thou shall not say crazy stuff for the next 12 hours. You can think it, but bite your tongue.

Love you all