Christians are people who bear the yoke of Christ instead of the yoke of the world. We are not thereby freed from suffering but we do experience a peace and a rest even amidst the storms of life at which the world apart from Christ can only wonder.
Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.
Let us come before Jesus this morning. He loves us and wants to give us rest from burdens we aren't meant to bear. We acknowledge that he is the Son of God, and with this acknowledgment God abides in us and we in him. This is coming to Jesus. This is the true, deep, and mystical meaning of bearing the yoke of Christ. It is not the easy but ultimately unsatisfying peace of indifference. It is the peace that comes from knowing that God is love and that love, therefore, has the ultimate and final say. It is still a yoke, this love. Our yoke is still concerned with love of God and love of neighbor. But in Jesus, even though we bear this yoke, we can still rest.
We are chosen for this call. It is not by chance. Jesus is calling your name and mine specifically when he says "Come to me".
You are a people sacred to the LORD, your God;
he has chosen you from all the nations on the face of the earth
to be a people peculiarly his own.
It is not because of our own merits or deeds. It is not because we first loved God. It is because, from the very beginning, God loved us. And so we hear him. We confidently approach him when he says, "Come to me". We receive his Spirit, his yoke, his heart for the Father and the world, his own love with which he loves.
Beloved, if God so loved us,
we also must love one another.
No one has ever seen God.
Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us,
and his love is brought to perfection in us.
Perhaps we have never experienced the rest of Jesus Christ. Perhaps we're holding our own burdens with white knuckled tenacity. Today is the day to come to him and to let the healing begin.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
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