Robert Kirkpatrick had some good news and some bad news. The good news: he had been extended a written invitation to a dinner with President Bush in Washington, DC. The invite and letter were signed by Vice President Cheney himself. It is not every day you receive an invitation like that. On the other hand, it was a fund-raising dinner and cost would be $2500 a plate. You might think that was the bad news. Not in this case.
The bad news: When Kirkpatrick received the invitation in 2001, he was just beginning a three year stint at the Belmont Correctional Institution eastern Ohio. He was serving time for drug possession and attempted escape. In the day of computer generated mailing lists, such mistakes happen all the time.
Kirkpatrick was philosophical about the invitation. He told reporters, "I’m going to tell him that I’d be happy to attend, but he’s going to have to pull some strings to get me there." John Bacon (from staff and wire reports), "Guess Who’s Not Coming to a Bush Dinner," USA Today (6-5-02) p. 3A)
Yeshua (Jesus) gives us a special invitation but it is no mistake:
Matthew 11.28-30
Similar to words in Hebrew Apocryphal writings which Yeshua (Jesus) was familiar with:
23 Draw near unto me, ye unlearned, and dwell in the house of learning. 24 Wherefore are ye slow, and what say ye to these things, seeing your souls are very thirsty? 25 I opened my mouth, and said, Buy her [i.e., wisdom] for yourselves without money. 26 Put your neck under the yoke, and let your soul receive instruction: she is hard at hand to find. 27 Behold with your eyes, how that I have but little labor, and have gotten unto me much rest. Ben Sira (or “Ecclesiasticus”) 51.23-27 (ca. 200 years BC)
• Draw Near for Instruction
• Take Yoke/Burden
• Labor of Learning brings rest
I. There is an Invitation to be Heard
A. Given to the Laden Laborers (weary and burdened)
For 75 years a missing persons case in NYC has remained unsolved. One evening in August of 1930 Joe Crater, a successful Supreme Court Judge for New York, waved goodbye to some friends after dinner at a restaurant, got in a taxi, and disappeared. Nothing in his past or present could explain his strange disappearance except possibly a note he left with a check for his wife. The note simply said, “I am very weary, love Joe”
Was that note an indication of his plans? Was it simply an expression of his feeling tired? Was it a note from a despairing man? We’ll never know.
Causes for weariness:
More than being tired – there is a “good” tired
This is fatigue when what you do doesn’t matter
Fatigue of despair – burdens of the leaders – Matthew 23.1-4
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
Fatigue of sins
Don’t be weary when doing right (Galatians 6.10)
B. Given by the Lowly One
Learn FROM Me – more than learn about me
Meek and Humble (Lowly/could include oppressed and poor)
Moses – (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.) Numbers 12.2
Prophet like Moses – 15 "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—
18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. Deuteronomy 18.15, 18
Prediction of the Messiah – Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9.9
Imagine two oxen yoked together. We know the oxen are strong. We hope they are also meek (strength under control). If one or both are out of control, there is little work that will be accomplished and a lot of turmoil.
The same thing was true for a Jewish boy who took the Yoke of a Rabbi. In Jesus’ day, many Rabbis were anything BUT humble and gentle. You have to pity an unsuspecting Jewish boy who found himself Yoked for life to a pride-filled, legalistic Rabbi who was impossible to please. There’s no REST to be found there!
II. There is an Action to Take (put on the Yoke)
A. This was a Partnership – Yoke was a Symbol of Connection)
You may remember that Jesus was 12 years old when he went to the Temple in Jerusalem and astounded the Priests there with his knowledge. After this Jesus went home and learned Joseph’s trade of Carpentry.
In doing this, Jesus followed the common educational tract for Jewish boys. But a select few would be able to continue their Formal Religious Education. This could not happen unless a Jewish Rabbi invited the boy to become his Talmid (or Disciple.) If the boy accepted this invitation, he would leave his family and village and forsake his family vocation. From that time he was devoted to the Rabbi, day and night --- not just learning the Rabbi’s teachings, but becoming LIKE the Rabbi in every way --- going where the Rabbi went, doing what the Rabbi did, teaching what the Rabbi taught. It was a total life commitment. (Rabbi and Talmidim © 1995-2007 That The World May Know Ministries)
1. Yeshua (Jesus) had a partnership with the Father (Matthew 11.27)
2. He invites us into his partnership (11.29)
3. It is pulling the same load together with our Rabbi in his instructions
B. There was a Participation (Work) – Yoke also symbolized Work/Labor
1. Rigors and Hardships of Discipleship (Foxes and holes – Luke 9.58)
2. A cost to consider – Luke 14.26-33
3. Pharisees gave burdens – Matthew 23.1-4 – rulings/legal instructions
4. Observance was still important – 23.3
5. Yeshua’s (Jesus’) teachings were correct
C. Messianic Allusions
1. “My Words”/ My Yoke – Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Matthew 7.24
2. MY Church – Matthew 16.18
3. Son of Man – Daniel 7.13-14; Luke 22.69; 19.10 (cf. Ezekiel 34)/Matthew 25.31
III. There are Promises to Trust
A. The Yoke of Yeshua is Easy; the Burden is Light
1. The instructions of Yeshua (Jesus) are easy to understand
2. They may not always be easy to do (turn the other cheek)
B. There is Rest for the Faithful (Power in Sabbath)
Richard Swenson wrote a book in the 1990’s entitled, “Margin” in which he describes modern society as so overcommitted and over scheduled that we have no space left for rest. A reviewer writes: Overload is not having time to finish the book you’re reading on stress. Margin is having time to read it twice. Overload is fatigue. Margin is energy. Overload is red ink. Margin is black ink. Overload is hurry. Margin is calm. Overload is anxiety. Margin is security. Overload is a disease of our day. Margin is the cure.
He says that as a society, we’ve forgotten what margin is. In the push for progress, margin has been devoured. So we feel distressed in ill-defined ways. We are besieged by anxiety, stress, and fatigue. Our relationships suffer. We have unexplained aches and pains. The flood of daily events seems beyond our control. We’re overloaded.
Margin is the space that once existed between ourselves and our limits. It’s something held in reserve for contingencies or unanticipated situations.
As a medical practitioner, Dr. Swenson sees a steady stream of exhausted, hurting people coming into his office. He says that a majority of them are suffering from an uncontrolled societal epidemic: living without margin. Again, his thesis: Overload is a disease of our day. Margin is the cure. (Taken from Amazon review)
1. A Messianic Expectation – And he said, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Exodus 33.14 (only God gives rest)
2. The Revelation of God provides rest for the weary -- Thus says the LORD: "Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it.' Jeremiah 6.16
Most people fail to live up to their own Words. One prime example of this might be Karl Marx who wrote the Communist Manifesto in 1848. Marx’ had --- and still has --- millions of followers. His Philosophy has shaped (and some would say, ruined) many Nations for a hundred years. Marxists consider Karl Marx a champion of the under classes.
But even his staunchest defenders admit that Marx did not live what he preached. He wrote “From each according to his ability; to each according to his need.” But he must have seen himself in the “needy” category because he never held a steady job. Instead he lived off the inheritance of his aristocratic wife and his wealthy friend, Friedrich Engels.
He preached revolution for the downtrodden masses --- but did not form friendships outside his own class. In his personal life, Marx formed few close ties. In fact, when he died, only 11 people came to his funeral. (http://www.anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=12622; Publishers Weekly, VII 2002)
The invitations have gone out. It’s an offer you won’t want to miss. The inviter doesn’t get any better. Best of all—you are invited.
Robert Kirkpatrick’s invitation was a mistake. Yours isn’t.
