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  • Yoke and Little Children

Yoke and Little Children

  • Posted by 杨牧师
  • Categories 杨牧师的主日证道
  • Date June 16, 2019
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July 5/6, 2014

Text: Matthew 11:25-30

In the name of Jesus, Amen!

What does a yoke have anything to do with little children? I was wondering this too when I was preparing the sermon. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus puts these two together. In the beginning of the text, it says. “At that time Jesus declared, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.’” And in the end, He says, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” It seems that the relationship between yoke and little children has to do with revelation from God the Father and the gentleness and lowliness of Jesus. But what is exactly the connection?

First, let’s find out what a yoke and little children are. What’s a yoke here? Jesus uses a yoke as an illustration to explain his helping carry our loads. People at the time of Jesus knew this very well. Some people say, Jesus may have learned from Joseph how to make a yoke because it’s so common at that time. A yoke is a wooden beam used between a pair of oxen or other animals for them to share the load. It may also be a shoulder yoke of a carrying pole used by people to carry a heavy burden, buckets of water or baskets of goods. When Jesus says, “Take my yoke upon you,” He is not talking about giving you another burden as if you didn’t have enough of it. He is talking about sharing your load and bearing your burden. Then, who are the little children? Well, it seems that we all know who little children are. But you may not know who the little children are that Jesus is talking about here. What are the essential characteristics of a little child? What so special are these little children that God the Father reveal something to them that are hidden from the wise and understanding? Little children are little and simple. They are gentle and humble, totally dependent on parents. So, Jesus is talking about not only literally little children but also those who are pure and simple, gentle and humble in heart, totally depending on God. Immediately, I thought of those blessed ones in the beatitudes. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek and humble, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the pure and simple in heart, for they shall see God.” Also Jesus rebuked the disciples and embraced the little children and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

You may ask, what’s wrong with the wise and understanding? Firstly, Jesus is talking about wisdom and understanding in the eyes of this world, not in the eyes of God. Sin and unbelief make people so complicated and so sophisticated that they doubt everything and anything. They are so strong-willed that they bend everything to their own advantage. They are so proud that they are blind to the truth of the Gospel and despise the grace of God. They have lost the pure and simple trust in God. They are too adult to be like little children. They think little children are too meek and humble that anyone can take advantage of them. Adults think the babes and little children are too dependent. Yes, they are. In the morning, when they wake up and open their eyes, they know who their parents are. They trust their mom to feed them and their dad to protect them. But a lot of adults don’t. They don’t recognize their parents. They are too independent. They are too smart to let their elderly parents to be a burden to them. Adults think the babes and little children are too simple and pure. Yes, they are simple. They are too simple to understand why adults cannot get along with one another, why mom and dad have to divorce.

Ironically, selfish sinful nature together with all the sophistication and the pride of this world doesn’t give us ease and peace in heart that it’s supposed to bring. Rather it brings a heavy burden upon us. Temptations, conflicting loyalties, broken relationships, struggles, stress, cares and worries are normal patterns of our life. We have to bear loads of sins, guilt of conscience and accusation of the law. These burdens are not just heavy, they are unbearable. They are getting heavier and heavier as we grow older and older. They pull us down and down until we are totally crushed by sickness, death and punishment of the Law. Like a millstone tied to our neck, they drown us in the sea of destruction. This is the problem of the wise and understanding in the eyes of this world.

But, thanks be to God, here and now, with sweet sound of the Gospel, Jesus invites us. In fact, He all inclusively invites everyone. He says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Jesus is asking us to learn from Him, the littlest child, and the most humble and simplest one for He says, “I am gentle and lowly in heart.” In many places of the Bible, God shows us a principle called the great reversal. “God resists the proud and give grace to the humble,” says Apostle James. Jesus says to His disciples, “Many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” In Mary’s Magnificat, she sings, “God has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty.”

Jesus Christ is the ultimate great reversal. His pure and simple heart compelled Him to say the truth even in front of Pontius Pilate, which eventually became the only so-called crime that He committed, “the King of the Jews.” But His purity and simpleness reflect His relationship with the Father. In the middle of today’s Gospel reading, that is between text about little children and the text about the yoke, Jesus said, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Jesus is THE little Child, the only begotten Son of God. He and the Father are one and simple, undivided. At the same time, His meekness and humbleness led Him to the suffering and death on the cross. On the cross, Jesus made a “yoke” that bore the sin of the whole world and carried the burden of God’s law and His wrath. This yoke lifted up all humanity by the power of the resurrection. The littlest child, the most humble and simplest one, Jesus Christ, accomplished the greatest thing and brought the peace, pardon and eternal life to everyone who should believe. The littlest Child of the greatest God bears the yoke of this world. This is the connection between yoke and little children.

Now, He invites you to take His yoke on your shoulder to bear your burden and to lighten your load. You, who labor and are heavy laden ones, come to Him. Lay all your sins, guilt, frustrations and worries on Him, on His yoke. And He will give you rest. When two oxen pull a load with a yoke, the stronger and faster one bears the most of the load. The same way, imagine two people share a yoke to carry a burden. If the stronger person bears the most weight, the weaker person like me can just pretend and whistle-blow some happy tunes along the way. That’s the picture. Jesus promises that when you take His yoke upon you, He actually will bear the entire burden. When He says, “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light,” He means it’s going to be so easy and free that you will feel like no burden at all. May the peace and rest from the littlest and the most humble child, Jesus be with you now and always.

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我父的事
18 January, 2021

二零二壹年圣诞期第二主日 证道经文:路加福音2:40–52 奉耶稣基督的名,阿门! 新年好!终于告别了2020年,迎来2021年,但是2021年会好一些吗?我希望会好起来。2020年对所有人来说都不容易,老年人更多是面临病毒与死亡的威胁,中年人因病毒改变了生活和工作的方式,年轻人和小孩子们不再活泼天真,失去了对未来的希望。今天我想更多地说说孩子们的事情,除了不能在学校与同龄人玩耍交流,失去许多乐趣和人际交流的机会以外,如今的孩子特别是刚刚毕业或即将毕业的年轻人,对未来充满不确定,不知道以后自己要做什么,甚至不知道自己可以做什么。如今疫情没有因为疫苗出来而马上好起来,人工智能不断取代人的工作岗位,这些现实使许多年轻人面临毕业即失业的前景。十七八岁的高中生在想,二十一、二岁的大学毕业生在想,家长们更是担忧孩子们将来能做什么呢?然而今天福音经文告诉我们,有个人祂在十二岁的时候就非常清楚自己要干什么,实际上祂从小就知道自己将来要做什么,这个孩子就是耶稣。在一个奇特的情况下,在一个不寻常的场合,少年耶稣对祂母亲说了句既寻常而又非凡的话。祂说,“岂不知我应当以我父的事为念吗?”祂的意思是“我现在和将来都要做我父所做的和我父要我做的事情,常思念我父的事。你难道不知道么?”   继承父亲的事业或从事父亲所做的事情是再寻常不过的了,特别是在古时候那个选择机会很少的年代,继承父亲事业是从业绝佳途径。不仅是从业途径而且父亲的基因,并从小耳濡目染父亲的工作等等,都为孩子将来从事父亲的事业或类似工作打下坚实的基础。但对于耶稣,这句话不寻常的地方是,祂说的“我父”或“我的父亲”并不是约瑟,而是天父上帝。耶稣是圣子,是天父上帝的爱子,是马利亚还是处女时由圣灵感孕出生的。耶稣以祂父的事为念,是以天父上帝的事为念。什么事呢?就是上帝爱世人,甚至将祂的独生子赐给他们,叫一切信祂的,不至灭亡,反得永生。其实,祂母亲马利亚早就知道耶稣的身份等等一些最基本的事情,只是马利亚自己也要靠她生养的儿子耶稣得救,她自己也有一个信心成长的过程,另外,她属人的感情也一直不愿接受耶稣将来所要做的事情,因为耶稣要为世人受苦受死。上周主日福音经文中,受圣灵充满的西面在给来圣殿为婴孩耶稣做头生洁净礼的马利亚祝福时说:「这孩子被立,是要叫以色列中许多人跌倒,许多人兴起;又要作毁谤的话柄,叫许多人心里的意念显露出来;你自己的心也要被刀刺透。」当主耶稣被挂在十字架上的时候,做为母亲的马利亚,心就像被刀刺透一样。耶稣从小就知道祂父差祂降生救赎人类的事,并一直以此事为念,为此事做准备。   这就是为什么少年耶稣在殿里,坐在教师中间,一面听,一面问。凡听见祂的,都希奇祂的聪明和祂的应对。这场面就像教室里的大反转,老师不会的题,一个学生却会,并给老师和全班同学讲解出来。要知道,在耶路撒冷圣殿里的教师可都是犹太人的顶尖圣经教师啊!当然,就像聪明的孩子有很大程度上是因为继承了父亲聪明的基因一样,少年耶稣的智慧来自天父上帝的智慧;不过主耶稣是神人二性,祂做为人,一个孩子,祂的智慧跟祂从小就以祂父的事为念有直接的关系。在这一点上,圣经中的另一个例子就是今天的旧约经文列王记上第三章中,幼童所罗门王向上帝求智慧。他说“耶和华我的上帝啊,如今你使仆人接续我父亲大卫作王;但我是幼童,不知道应当怎样出入。仆人住在你所拣选的民中,这民多得不可胜数。”他以上帝立他为以色列的王,要治理以色列民为念,因此上帝不仅赐他智慧,也赐他富足和尊荣。今天的福音经文记载,在所罗门王所建的圣殿里,一位比所罗门王更大的君王,用比所罗门更智慧的言语震撼了犹太顶级的圣经教师。少年耶稣不仅因为祂是上帝的儿子,而且做为人,在成长过程中祂也是一直以祂父的事为念,所以,上帝赐给祂智慧,天父是祂智慧的来源。   少年耶稣虽然是上帝的儿子,有天父上帝的智慧,但同时做为人遵循人类成长的过程,顺从祂在地上的父母,并按照各样属神的规矩,为我们成就了诸般的义。今天经文一开始说,祂是“按着节期的规矩”上耶路撒冷去,并“守满了节期”。我们应当学习主耶稣,按照属神的规矩,有规律地去教会。这种按照属神的规矩行事本身不是形式主义或律法主义,而是良好的习惯,使我们不断从主的圣道和圣礼中得到上帝的恩典与智慧。今天的经文最后说,耶稣的“智慧和身量,并上帝和人喜爱他的心,都一齐增长”。但是在今天经文的中间,我们似乎看到少年耶稣很叛逆和不听话的样子。当父母发现耶稣不与他们一同在回家的路上以后,花了三天的时间才在圣殿中找到祂;祂母亲对祂说:「我儿!为什么向我们这样行呢?看哪!你父亲和我伤心来找你!」耶稣说:「为什么找我呢?岂不知我应当以我父的事为念吗?」当然,经文把原因说得很清楚。耶稣“所说的这话,他们不明白。”但是耶稣无论怎样,还是“同他们下去,回到拿撒勒,并且顺从他们。”少年耶稣体谅祂世上的父母还不完全明白祂的身份和所要做的事情。在这种无奈的情况下,耶稣虽然以天父的事为念,但祂顾全大局,也要为所有少年人做出孝顺父母的榜样而顺服祂的父母。   另外,今天经文也用一些词提醒我们,有关耶稣以祂父的事为念的事情,这究竟是什么事呢?经文记载的是祂父母带祂去耶路撒冷过逾越节的时候发生的故事。大家都知道,逾越节是记念上帝以大能的手将以色列人从埃及为奴之家领出来,逾越节时所吃的羔羊就是预表耶稣基督这位上帝的羔羊,除去世人罪孽的。祂父母三天后找到祂,是预言和预表耶稣基督死后第三天复活,因为这就像“是死而复活、失而又得了”。少年耶稣将来要死并复活的事情对天父上帝和耶稣来说是必要的,耶稣“应当”以此为念的。主耶稣在福音书中也曾多次表示,祂“必须”上耶路撒冷,“受长老、祭司长、文士许多的苦,并且被杀,第三日复活”。这是因为,祂一直是以祂父上帝的事业为念,要为我们成就救赎的大功。   今天,我们每一个人(不只是青少年人)当学习主耶稣的榜样,在祂里面找到对天父上帝的真正归属与忠诚,并常以天父的事为念。求主的圣灵感动我们,使我们像马利亚一样将主的话语“存在心里”,也像少年耶稣一样,常常思念上帝的教导和上帝的事情,也求主使我们能像所罗门王和主耶稣一样得到上帝的智慧与恩典,“使我们的智慧和身量,并上帝和人喜爱我们的心,都一齐增长”。 奉圣父、圣子、圣灵的名,阿门!

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