Introduction

• At the end of our passage today, Jesus will speak autobiographically about what his own heart is like—I am gentle and lowly in heart (28).
  • Hold onto that phrase, because, as we journey through this section, we might feel it is surprising.
  • Right before he announces his gentleness, he announces some of the most terrifying words in Matthew.
    • He will judge cities—Jesus the Judge.
    • He will claim he is the exclusive way to God—Jesus the Revealer.
    • But he offers that way to those who are tired and burdened—Jesus the Rest Giver.
• Our section of Matthew: The King Divides Hearts (Matthew 11–13)

1. Jesus the Judge

20 Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.

• Jesus denounced the Evangelical Triangle—three towns he performed most of his mighty works (20).
  • Jesus centered his most explosive power in this region.

21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”

Glossary of Places.

• Chorazin was a town two miles northwest of Capernaum (21).
  • Mere ruins today.
  • Small town.
  • Only mentioned during this rebuke (see Luke 10:13 for their other reference).
  • But even though it wasn’t mentioned much, apparently Jesus did many mighty works there.
• Bethsaida was the home of Andrew, Peter, and Philip (21; John 1:44; 12:21).
  • Like Capernaum, on the shore of Galilee.
• Tyre and Sidon: large Phoenician cities on the Mediterranean coast, just north of Israel (21–22).
  • Repeatedly denounced in the Old Testament.
    • Isaiah 23—Oracle foretelling Tyre’s fall and a seventy-year commercial eclipse.
    • Ezekiel 26–28—Tyre will be judged. They would sink like a splendid trading ship that sinks in the sea. The prince of Tyre thought himself a god, so judgment is coming.
    • Joel 3—Tyre and Sidon looted the temple and sold God’s people into slavery.
    • Amos 1—Tyre trafficked people to Edom.
    • Zechariah 9—Tyre would be stripped of her hoarded wealth and destroyed by fire.
  • Composite sketch: Proud, rich, idolatrous cities, historically brutal toward God’s people.
• Capernaum: Coastal city on the northern rim of the sea of Galilee (23).
  • Jesus’ headquarters.
  • He often taught in the synagogue and worked many miracles there.
  • Many of his disciples lived and worked there.
  • Only ruins today.
• Sodom: Another city from Old Testament times that experienced God’s judgment (23–24).
  • Along with neighboring Gomorrah, Sodom was an ancient city infamous for its profound wickedness, arrogance, and sexual immorality, serving as a perpetual biblical example of God’s righteous and total judgment when he destroyed it with fire and brimstone (Gen. 19:24-25; Ezek. 16:49-50; Jude 1:7).

And don’t forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God’s judgment. (Jude 7, NLT)

Glossary of Terms.

• Sackcloth and ashes: Sackcloth was rough goat or camel-hair fabric worn against the skin, worn as common tokens of repentance and grief in the ancient world (21). Ashes were sprinkled on the head during times of contrition and mourning (21).
• The day of judgment: A set time in the future when God, through Christ Jesus, will render righteous judgment on all (22, 24).

(God) has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. (Acts 17:31)

The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment… (2 Peter 2:9)

But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. (2 Peter 3:7)

And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, (God) has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day. (Jude 6)

• According to Jesus, this judgment will come according to the degree of light someone received.

• Hades: The realm of the dead (translated Sheol in the Hebrew Old Testament), physical death itself, or a shadowy underworld—here, it is the ultimate place of divine judgment and ruin, a synonym for the day of judgment.
  • Jesus’ words echo Isaiah 14:13-15, an old prophetic taunt against the King of Babylon. He boasted that he’d ascend to heaven, but God made sure he was cast down to the grave.

Community fostered and familiarity bred indifference to Christ ends in the sharpest judgment.

• Their situation:
  • Exposure. The people of Capernaum, Bethsaida, and Chorazin had deep exposure to Jesus. The people of Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom had no exposure to Jesus.
  • Crime. The people of Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom committed heinous crimes against God and humanity. The people of Capernaum, Bethsaida, and Chorazin did not respond to Jesus.
    • They were not hostile to Jesus, merely indifferent. They were not involved in active, violent persecution or pagan wickedness. They were merely uncaring about Christ’s presence.
    • Too few: did Jesus rise from the dead?
    • Too many: do I like Christianity?
  • Judgment. The towns with more revelation of Jesus, though they had committed less typically vile sins, would endure the sharper judgment.
    • Jesus: Tyre and Sidon would have repented long ago. Sodom would have remained to this day.
    • Is this Jesus’ contingent knowledge? God knows what people would have done under different circumstances. Does this affect his final judgment?
    • This is encouraging for how we think about the unreached, but sobering for how we think about societies that have been reached.
• This is a strong word:
  • For societies and nations heavily influenced by Christ.
  • For children of parents who gave them Christ.
• Greater light, greater responsibility.
  • Example: inoculated/vaccinated against the gospel.
    • Spiritual privilege.
    • Bibles, resources, literacy
  • Human pride is a barrier to gospel entry—repentance requires the humbling of the heart.

2. Jesus the Revealer

25 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; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

• At that time (25). Connects what he’s just said to what he will now say. With the unrepentant indifference of those towns in his mind, he thanks his Father (25).

What did Jesus thank his Father about?

• For hiding the things related to Jesus’ mighty works from the wise and understanding (25).
  • Note: The Bible is not anti-wisdom or anti-intellectual. We are to use our minds for God’s glory. But it is anti-pride and arrogance, which often accompanies those who are wise and understanding from the world’s vantage-point.
    • We must be cautious about godless intellectualism.
  • Jesus praised God for hiding the truth from the self-sufficient, spiritually proud who thought they had it all figured out.
• For revealing the things related to Jesus’ mighty works to little children (25).
  • Jesus praised God for revealing the truth to dependent, teachable, lowly, and unpretentious people.
  • Example: David’s anointing (1 Sam. 16:1-13).

Implications: We must maintain a humble, teachable spirit.

• Pew Research: mixed results—it isn’t consistent that increased education leads to less Christianity or religiosity. But the younger generations certainly are drifting, no matter their education level.
• Affirm: The mind is good, wisdom is worth pursuing.
• Challenge: knowledge is not God, education cannot save—God gives knowledge, and he saves us through the cross.
  • Note: nothing we can achieve could ever save us.

27 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.

Who is Jesus the Revealer?

• 1. Exhaustive: He and the Father have exhaustive knowledge of one another.
  • No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son.
• 2. Exclusive: The Son is the only door through which the Father can be known.
  • No one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
• He is unlike anyone—including the rabbis who established their authority through a chain of human tradition. He and the Father are one (John 10:30).

Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. (Hebrews 1:1–3, NLT)

3. Jesus the Rest Giver

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:20–30, ESV)

Jesus sends out an invitation.

• To those who labor and are heavy laden (28). Who are they?
  • Labor: working/trying hard.
  • Heavy laden: burdened and loaded down with something placed on them.
  • Who are the weary and burdened? Not one group but many.
    • Those crushed by the Pharisees’ oral law (23:4).
    • Those exhausted by trying to earn favor with God.
    • Those weighed down by guilt, grief, anxiety, or shame.
    • Those simply worn out by the burden of being human in a fallen world.
• To come to him (28).
  • Jesus does not say, “Come to God/the Father.”
  • Moses wanted to see God—and Jesus is God’s face.
• With him, there is rest (28).
  • Rest is a massive biblical concept.
    • Chaos → Creation → Rest
    • Exile → Slavery → Exodus → Rest
    • Trust & Sabbath vs. Lack of Trust & Rejecting Sabbath

Those who come to him must take his yoke upon them and learn from him.

• This is good, because he is gentle and lowly in heart (29).
  • He is contrasting himself with those who would make us labor and put burdens on us.
    • Their day: religious establishment
    • Our day: dead religion, secular creeds, philosophical bullies
• He does not give a nap, but a yoke. He does not give a vacation, but a light burden (29-30).
  • He offers not escape, but a work instrument. Equipment.
    • Example: gifting a young man a nice tool belt.

What does it mean to take up his yoke and learn of him?

• Enter into life with Jesus—go the Jesus way.
• From the passages before this one, we know that life is often hard.
  • Rejection and inhospitality (Matt 10:14)
  • Persecution and legal arraignment—dragged before councils and governors (Matt 10:17-18)
  • Flogging (Matt 10:17)
  • Betrayal by family—brother against brother, children against parents (Matt 10:21)
  • Universal hatred for his name’s sake (Matt 10:22)
  • Being hunted, forced to flee town to town (Matt 10:23)
  • Slander—called “Beelzebul” like their master (Matt 10:25)
  • Fear requiring courage to overcome (Matt 10:26-28)
  • Division within households (Matt 10:34-36)
  • Costly loyalty—loving him above family (Matt 10:37)
  • Cross-bearing and death (Matt 10:38-39)
• So how can he say his yoke is easy and his burden is light?
  • He is in the other yoke.
  • We love him because he first loved us.
  • The alternative is more difficult.