"Lesson 10: “Take My Yoke upon You, and Learn of Me”," New Testament Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, (2002)
a) Have seen two stark examples of the burdens of mortality, particularly mortality in the latter days
i) Japan
(1) Isaiah: The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard (Isaiah 24:20)
(2) Doctrine and Covenants 88: the voice of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds. (Doctrine and Covenants 88:90)
(3) Haggai: For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; And I will shake all nations (Haggai 2:6-7)
ii) Libya
(1) Mormon: And there shall also be heard of wars, rumors of wars, and earthquakes in divers places. (Mormon 8:30)
(2) Words of Christ recorded in Mark: And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places (Mark 13:7)
b) Many kinds of loads, or burdens – Slide show
i) Some are easy to see
(1) Physical
ii) Some difficult or impossible to see
(1) Emotional
(2) Spiritual
c) Do we ever have a burden that is more than we can bear?
d) Do we ever have a burden that is more than we can bear alone?
2. Jesus invites us to take his yoke upon us and learn of him.
a) Begin with a scripture that each of us has read a thousand times
i) Have found new meaning for myself as I have studied it during preparation
b) Reading 1 – Matthew 11:28-30
28¶Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
i) Yoke
(1) Defined - A frame or bar that can be placed on one or two people or animals pulling or carrying a heavy load. The yoke balances the burden and makes it easier to manage.
(2) Frequently used in the Old Testament
(a) READ – 1 Kings 12:11 – Rehoboam, son of Solomon, speaks to all of Israel - 11And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
(b) READ – Alma 44:2 – Captain Moroni speaking to the Lamanites, asking them to surrender instead of being killed - 2Behold, we have not come out to battle against you that we might shed your blood for power; neither do we desire to bring any one to the yoke of bondage. But this is the very cause for which ye have come against us; yea, and ye are angry with us because of our religion.
ii) Verse 28 - Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden
(1) Verb – Come – The Savior is ready to receive us, but we must come
(2) Who is he inviting - all ye that labour and are heavy laden
(a) Those who have burdens – seen and unseen
(3) ASK – Why must we come?
iii) Verse 29 - Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me
(1) Two verbs – take and learn
(a) Take – Christ won’t force His yoke upon us
(b) Learn – One of the most important benefits we gain from taking His yoke upon us the opportunity to be taught by Christ through our experiences with Him
(i) Learning is a verb, it is an action we must do as part of taking His yoke upon us
(2) ASK – What does it mean when we take Christ’s yoke upon us? Is this oppressive?
(a) He helps pull the load
(i) He doesn’t pull the entire load – we have to pull a little
(b) learn of me
(i) Learn from me
(c) We go in the direction that He is going
(i) Reading 2 – Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has said: In this promise, that introductory phrase, “come unto me,” is crucial. It is the key to the peace and rest we seek. Indeed, when the resurrected Savior gave His sermon at the temple to the Nephites in the New World, He began, “Blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” . . . .
It seems clear that the essence of our duty and the fundamental requirement of our mortal life is captured in these brief phrases from any number of scenes in the Savior’s mortal ministry. He is saying to us, “Trust me, learn of me, do what I do. Then, when you walk where I am going,” He says, “we can talk about where you are going, and the problems you face and the troubles you have. If you will follow me, I will lead you out of darkness,” He promises. “I will give you answers to your prayers. I will give you rest to your souls.” (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “Broken Things to Mend,” April 2006 General Conference)
(d) ASK – Once we take Christ’s yoke upon us, is there a time when we take it off? What might happen if we take it off?
iv) Verse 29 - learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart
(1) Interesting that the one reason out of many that he gives for us to learn from him is that he is meek and lowly in heart
(a) This is not the attitude of an oppressor who will put a heavy or painful yoke on us.
v) Verse 29 - ye shall find rest unto your souls
(1) A particular kind of rest – rest unto our souls
(2) If our spirits are peaceful and at rest, we can handle a lot of physical and mortal difficulties
(3) President Joseph F. Smith wrote: "The ancient prophets speak of 'entering into God's rest'; what does it mean? To my mind, it means entering into the knowledge and love of God, having faith in his purpose and in his plan, to such an extent that we know we are right, and that we are not hunting for something else, we are not disturbed by every wind of doctrine, or by the cunning and craftiness of men who lie in wait to deceive." (Gospel Doctrine, p58)
vi) Verse 30 - For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
(1) Christ says His yoke is easy
(a) Does this mean that it’s always easy to be a follower of Christ in this world?
(b) What is Christ’s yoke easier than?
(c) Does Satan politely invite us to take his yoke upon us?
(i) Satan forces and coerces
(ii) Once Satan’s yoke is on, it is hard to take off. The longer it is on, the harder it is to take off.
(iii) READ – Speaking of the oppression of the Saints, Joseph Smith wrote from Liberty Jail: “the whole earth groans under the weight of its iniquity. It is an iron yoke, it is a strong band; they are the very handcuffs, and chains, and shackles, and fetters of hell.” (Doctrine and Covenants 123:7-8)
(iv) Reading 2A – Brigham Young said: Cast off the yoke of the enemy, and put on the yoke of Christ, and you will say that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. This I know by experience (Discourses, 347–48).
(2) Reading 3 - President Joseph Fielding Smith wrote: "When a man confesses that it is hard to keep the commandments of the Lord, he is making a sad confession—that he is a violator of the Gospel law. Habits are easily formed. It is just as easy to form good habits as it is to form evil ones. Of course it is not easy to tell the truth, if you have been a confirmed liar. It is not easy to be honest, if you have formed habits of dishonesty. A man finds it very difficult to pray, if he has never prayed. On the other side, when a man has always been truthful, it is a hard thing for him to lie. If he has always been honest and he does some dishonest thing, his conscience protests very loudly. He will find no peace, except in repentance. If a man has the spirit of prayer, he delights in prayer. It is easy for him to approach the Lord with assurance that his petition will be answered. The paying of tithing is not hard for the man, fully converted to the Gospel, who pays his tenth on all that he receives. So we see the Lord has given us a great truth—his yoke is easy, his burden is light if we love to do his will!" (The Way to Perfection, p150)
c) Summary of Matthew 11:28-30
i) Invited to come to Christ
ii) Invitation is to all who labour and are heavy laden
(1) We don’t have to be neat and perfect to come unto Christ
(2) He expects us on our worst days
iii) Promise that He will give us rest if we do that
iv) Invited to take the yoke of a follower of Christ upon us
v) Invited to learn of Christ
vi) Being closely yoked with Him is not frightening or daunting because He is meek and lowly in heart
vii) Another promise of rest – unto our souls
viii) Assurance that His yoke is easy and His burden light
(1) Following Christ and relying upon Him is not only the exclusive path back to Heavenly Father, it is the easiest and best path through our mortal lives
ix) Reading 4 – Elder Holland teaches us: This reliance upon the merciful nature of God is at the very center of the gospel Christ taught. I testify that the Savior’s Atonement lifts from us not only the burden of our sins but also the burden of our disappointments and sorrows, our heartaches and our despair. From the beginning, trust in such help was to give us both a reason and a way to improve, an incentive to lay down our burdens and take up our salvation. There can and will be plenty of difficulties in life. Nevertheless, the soul that comes unto Christ, who knows His voice and strives to do as He did, finds a strength, as the hymn says, “beyond [his] own.” The Savior reminds us that He has “graven [us] upon the palms of [His] hands.” Considering the incomprehensible cost of the Crucifixion and Atonement, I promise you He is not going to turn His back on us now. When He says to the poor in spirit, “Come unto me,” He means He knows the way out and He knows the way up. He knows it because He has walked it. He knows the way because He is the way. (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “Broken Things to Mend,” April 2006 General Conference)
x) READ - President Boyd K. Packer said, “You need not know everything before the power of the atonement will work for you. Have faith in Christ; it begins to work the day you ask.” (Ensign, May 1997, p. 10)
3. Jesus declares that he is Lord of the Sabbath
a) In Matthew 11-12, we are about half-way through Christ’s mortal ministry
i) As Christ ministered throughout Israel, great multitudes followed him
ii) Many were the honest in heart, drawn to the Messiah
iii) Some were His enemies, always watching for the Savior to make a mistake, do something that would allow them to attack and undermine Him
b) Reading 5 – Matthew 12:1-2
1At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.
2But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
i) Israel is deep into apostasy at this time
(1) Two sources of the law
(a) The original law of Moses
(b) Layer upon layer of rabbinical law – interpretations of the original Mosaic law
(i) Regarded by the Pharisees as just as binding as the law of Moses
(2) Nowhere was the rabbinical law more complex and dense than in sabbath observations
(a) Jewish law in Jesus’ day forbade thirty-nine chief or principal types of work.
(i) Many subdivisions of these thirty-nine principal types of work
(b) Examples
(i) making a knot
(ii) undoing a knot
(iii) sewing two stitches
(iv) writing two letters of the alphabet
(c) Was almost impossible to keep the sabbath according to rabbinical law
(d) Christ’s followers reaped and threshed the corn on the Sabbath
c) Christ’s Response
i) Whenever the Pharisees tried to Bible-bash with the Savior, they failed miserably
ii) Reading 6 – Matthew 12:3-5
3But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
4How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
5Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
(1) David was allowed to eat of the shewbread, not because there was danger to life from starvation, but because he pleaded that he was on the service of the Lord and needed this provision.
(2) The priests worked on the Sabbath, because this service was the object of the Sabbath
iii) Reading 7 – Matthew 12:6-8
6But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
7But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
8For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.
4. Jesus forgives a woman in the house of Simon the Pharisee
a) Reading 8 – Luke 7:36-38,48-50
36¶And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat.
37And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
SKIP TO 48
48And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.
49And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?
50And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.
(1) Note: Guests entering Palestinian homes often removed their sandals, because they were concerned that pollution from the streets might contaminate the mats and rugs on which family prayers were offered.
(2) At the dining table they reclined on couches with their feet outward from the table.
b) Reading 9 – Luke 7:39-47
39Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.
40And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.
41There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.
42And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?
43Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.
44And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
45 Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
46My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.
47Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
i) Under the law of Simon the Pharisee, this woman would receive no forgiveness because she had sinned.
ii) Marked difference in faith, humility and respect between the woman and Simon
iii) READ Mosiah 4:2-3: And they had viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth. And they all cried aloud with one voice, saying: O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who created heaven and earth, and all things; who shall come down among the children of men. And it came to pass that after they had spoken these words the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come, according to the words which king Benjamin had spoken unto them.
Conclusion
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