Matthew 11

Matthew 11:1

As we have seen thus far, the Book of Matthew presents Jesus Christ as KingKing of Israel primarily, but not exclusively, for we know that Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords for all people inclusively. But Jesus, in harmony and agreement with what the prophets predicted, came on the scene and presented Himself to the people of Israel as their King and Messiah. In chapters 1 through 10, we’ve seen the revelation of the KingHis Person, His Principles, His Power, His People. Here in chapters 11 and 12, we see rebellion against the King, where all of the revelations of chapters 1 through 10 will be challenged by His enemies. I find it interesting that after Jesus sent out the twelve, He taught in their home cities. Jesus would later say a prophet is not without honor except in his own country. In other words, a prophet can go anywhere and be listened to by everyone, except by those who grew up with him or those who thought they really knew him. When He returned to His hometown of Capernaum, Jesus’ neighbors said, “Don’t we know You? You’re the carpenter’s son. We know Your brothers and sisters.” And they didn’t believe in Him. Here, Jesus goes into the apostles’ home cities, knowing that if the disciples had been sent to those who knew them, the response would be, “You think you guys are apostles? What a joke!” Does this mean you shouldn’t be a witness at home? No. We must witness there. But if the Lord leads you to Mexico, to the Philippines, or to the untamed jungle of Los Angeles, you just might find yourself enjoying an extra measure of fruitfulness.

Matthew 11:2

Herod, the ruler of Israel, had taken his brother’s wife as his own, and John the Baptist boldly and pointedly indicted him for his sin. Herod retaliated by imprisoning John. John probably wasn’t worried initially. He probably thought, That’s okay. Messiah’s on the scene. He’ll spring me out of here in no time. Don’t the prophecies declare He shall open prison doors and set the captive free? I won’t be in here long! No problem! But there he sat, week after week after month in that dingy, damp dungeon. And he sent word to Jesus: “What’s going on? You’re Messiah, aren’t You? That’s what I was preaching. I even saw the dove of the Spirit descend upon You. Why, then, haven’t You established Your kingdom? Why am I still in prison?” Do you ever feel like that? Do you ever ask, “Lord, why am I still imprisoned? Why haven’t You set me free? Why haven’t You worked it out, Lord? Week after month after year has gone by, and here I sit.” John did. So he sent emissaries to ask Jesus if He was the Messiah. If not, they would start looking for another.

Matthew 11:4

“Look around, guys,” said Jesus. “And look it up. See that Isaiah prophesied the very things you are seeing: the blind receiving their sight, the lame walking, lepers being cleansed, the deaf hearing, and the dead rising. Look around, look it up, and tell John that the prophecies are being fulfilled and the kingdom is being seenalthough in a different way than perhaps he expected. The political, material, physical kingdom John was hoping for will come eventually. But now I am establishing My kingdom spiritually, and touching people individually.” So John was gently rebuked here as his disciples returned to him, saying, “The blind are seeing, the deaf are hearing, the lame are walking, and Jesus said happy is the one who’s not offended in Him.” I bet when John heard this, his heart sank. “Oh, how could I be so dumb? Of course. He is fulfilling the prophecies. How could I doubt Him?” At this point, John must have been very down on himself, but read the next verse to see Jesus’ impression of him.

Matthew 11:7

“Did you go out to see someone who was flimsy and floppy, blowing in the wind and reading the latest public opinion polls before deciding what stance he should take? No! Far from being a reed shaken by the wind, John was a wind shaking the reeds!”

Matthew 11:8

No. John wore camel’s hair and dined on grasshoppers. Neither flimsy reed nor pampered courtier, John is the one who was prophesied by Malachi four hundred years previouslythe messenger who would come before Messiah.

Matthew 11:11

In Jesus’ estimation, John the Baptist was greater than Abraham, greater than Moses, greater than Elijah, greater than David. Here’s what interests me: This was spoken to the crowd after the messengers were sent off to tell John, “Blessed is the one who is not offended in Me.” In other words, after John’s disciples left, Jesus told the crowd John was the greatest who had ever been born of women. But John’s disciples didn’t hear that. Nor did John. So, too, although Jesus often challenges us through the Holy Spirit and convicts us through the Word, there are times He says to His angels, “Look at My people at Calvary Chapelaren’t they impressive? Robed in My righteousness and cleansed by My blood.

They study My Word. They sing praises to My Name. They like to pray. They love Me. Aren’t they special?” I know this is going on because I’ve been reading the Song of Solomon. I know what my Lord’s heart is toward me. But sometimes those things are out of earshot because He wants to change me and push me to be all I can be, all I should be here on earth that I might be all He wants me to be in eternity. He keeps challenging us, but at the same time, perhaps out of earshot, He commends us. Like John, you might be saying, “I’m such a failure. I’ve erred so badly. I’ve blown it again. There’s no hope for me, my ministry, my walk with the Lord, my relationship with Him.” The Lord might convict and challenge you, yes, but at the same time know this: Even as He commended John, I’m confident He commends you. In this kingdom age in which we live, even the least of us is greater than John. Why? Because we have an understanding of things John and the Old Testament prophets could not know. Peter tells us the prophets of old tried to understand, asking, “How can these things be?” We, on the other hand, have greater insight because we have been allowed to live in this age where we understand the plan of God, where we have been forgiven of all our sins by the blood of Jesus, and where we have the indwelling Spirit.

Matthew 11:12

In the original Greek language, this can be translated two ways. It could mean that the kingdom of heaven is being attacked by violent menfor indeed it was. John was in prison, and he was about to be beheaded. Herod had killed perhaps thousands of babies in his drive to murder the Christ Child. Bloodshed and violence abounded as the kingdom emerged, so it could be that this verse speaks of the kingdom of heaven suffering violence by enemies trying to overtake it with force. Or, it could be rendered another way with equal accuracy. That is, that the kingdom of heaven is taken by men who are aggressively, enthusiastically pressing in and laying hold. It is not for those who just sit back apathetically and say, “Que sera sera, whatever will be will be.” Rather, it is taken by those who, with fervency in prayer, an exercise of faith, and an expenditure of energy lay hold of the promises of God violently and aggressively. Both meanings of this verse find illustration in John the Baptist.

Matthew 11:13

In John 1, the Pharisees asked John directly, “Are you Elijah?” to which he replied, “I am not.” And yet here Jesus is saying, “If you can receive it, this is Elijah.” How do we reconcile this? Stick around. The answer appears in chapter 17.

Matthew 11:16

Continuing His discussion of John the Baptist, Jesus asks, “What can I say about this generation? John came as an ascetic, neither eating, nor drinking, but chomping on grasshoppers and living on honey, and you called him crazy. Then I came, eating and celebrating, and you call Me a glutton and a winebibber. You didn’t receive John with his asceticism, and you do not receive Me with My celebration. You don’t want to dance, and you don’t want to mourn. Nothing makes you happy.”

Matthew 11:20

Tyre and Sidon were Gentile cities that had been judged. But Jesus says, “Woe unto you, Chorazin and Bethsaida"cities near Galilee where Jesus had headquartered His ministry. “Woe unto you even more than Tyre and Sidon because, although I have done many mighty works among you, you did not respond to Me.”

Matthew 11:23

In addition to Chorazin and Bethsaida, Jesus indicts His hometown of Capernaum. Those living in Capernaum saw His works, they heard His message, but they did not respond. If you go to Israel, you can go to the sites of Capernaum, Bethsaida, and Chorazin. These cities, once hugely prosperous, are now nothing but archaeological digs. By all logic, these cities should be thriving today. The location is beautiful. The climate is primo. The water is abundant. The resources are many. But these cities were judged and destroyed not very long after this statement was made, and they were never rebuilt. It would be as if Balboa Island, Newport Beach, and San Diego were wiped out and never rebuilt. People would say, “Why not? Those are lovely spots geographically.” Yet centuries have come and gone, and these three cities are still dead. And so are we if we reject the words of Jesus Christ. If any of you say, “I don’t believe in this Jesus stuff, not really,” you’re a dead city. If you refuse to respond to the mighty works of Jesus Christ all around you and to His Word constantly before you, judgment will come upon you.

Matthew 11:25

Jesus’ attention shifted from the rebellious to the faithful as He said, “Father, thank You that You have revealed truth to these babes. The Pharisees, the religious, the scholarsthey’re not responding. But, Father, thank You for the babes.” In the Book of Acts, Luke writes that the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes marveled when they heard the wisdom of Peter and John. “How did these fishermen get such wisdom?” they wondered. The answer? Peter and John had been with Jesus (Act_4:13). That’s the key. Spend time with the Lord in the Word, and you’ll be so wise that even Pharisees will wonder how you became so wise.

Matthew 11:27

God is so immense. The Milky Way galaxy is approximately 100,000 light years across. Traveling at the speed of light, 186,000 miles per second, it would take 100 million years just to get across the length of the Milky Way galaxy. And yet the Word says our Lord spans the universe between His thumb and His little finger (Isa_40:12)! Big! Enormous! How do we know such a vast God? Oh, great is the mystery of godliness, Paul said, that God would become a Man, manifesting Himself in Christ Jesus (1Ti_3:16). Our Christian faith is truly ingenious. I mean, this huge, vast God became a Man that we might know Him. But our sin stood in the way of a relationship with Him, so that same God died on a Cross at Calvary to provide atonement for our sin. Then He rose again to live inside of us by His Spirit. It’s perfect! There’s not a flaw in it!

Matthew 11:28

“Come to Me,” Jesus says. “Yoke with Me. Learn of Me. And you’ll find rest in your souls.” A Word to the Weary A Topical Study of Mat_11:28-30 Although it took place in the 1930s, it remains one of the most mystifying missing person cases in FBI files. After spending an evening eating out with friends, a forty-five-year-old New York judge hailed a taxi and was never seen or heard from again. The FBI immediately became involved. They suspected a kidnapping by someone who held a judicial grudge against him. But that didn’t seem to pan out. They then suspected Mafia activity because he was an outspoken enemy of the Mafia. But again, that led nowhere. To this day, there is only one clue that remains. When his wife returned to their apartment the evening her husband disappeared, there on the table was a check for a large sum of money made out to her and a note attached to it in her husband’s handwriting which simply said, I am very, very tired. Love, Joe The question remainswere those words merely a comment made at the end of a particularly trying day? Or was his note saying, “I’m tired; I’m fatigued; I’m weary; I give up”? To this day, we can’t be sure. For lack of further evidence, it is presently believed he rode off in a taxicab to an unknown destination where he took his own life because weariness had weighted his soul. I think all of us from time to time can relate to that kind of weariness. I’m not speaking of physical fatiguethe kind of fatigue you feel after mowing the lawn or playing a set of tennis. No, I’m speaking of the weariness which comes from life itself. If you are of average weight and height, here is what you will go through in an average twenty-four-hour period: Your heart will beat 103,689 times. Your blood will travel 168 million miles as your heart pumps approximately 4 ounces per beat. You will breathe 23,040 times, inhaling 438 cubic feet of air. Your stomach will take in three and a half pounds of food and 2.9 quarts of liquid. You will lose seven eighths of a pound of waste. If you are a man, you will speak 4,800 words, and if you are a woman, you will speak close to 7,000 words. You will move 750 muscles and exercise 7 million brain cells. No wonder we’re tired! But there is a weariness much more draining than physical fatigue. It’s the kind of weariness you feel when you just don’t know if you can go on another day. It’s the weariness a father feels when his child is doing wrong, the weariness a friend feels who has been abandoned or misunderstood, and the weariness a wife feels whose husband has rejected her. It’s the weariness that can take a toll on even the most seemingly successful individualeven on a successful judge. There is One, however, who said, “Come to me, all you who are weary…” (see Mat_11:28). How I appreciate that! The Lord of the universe invited anyone who is weary to come to Him. If I were the Lord, I don’t know if I would make that kind of invitation. Keep in mind that at this point in Matthew’s Gospel, Israel is rejecting His invitation to make Him King. Consequently, no longer is Jesus speaking to a nation corporately, saying, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” No, now He is speaking to individuals personally, saying, “Come to Me, any who are weary, any who are laboring.” Would you have called this group of people? I’m not sure I would. If I were giving an invitation, I don’t think I would have said, “Come unto me all you who are laboring and wearyfeeling as though you’re depressed to the point of death, despairing because of divorce or disease, death or discouragement.” No, I think I would say, “Come unto me, all you who are happylet’s celebrate life together! Let’s lift each other’s spirits!” Or maybe I would have said, “Come unto me, all you who are wealthy. Come and share your prosperity!” Or maybe, “Come unto me all you who are wise. Let’s dialogue and philosophize and interact intellectually.” But the personal invitation Jesus extended to people individually as the nation rebelled against Him corporately was: “Anyone who is weary, come to Me. Those are My peoplethe weary ones.” Come unto me… Jesus didn’t say, “Run to Me.” So often in my weariness, I can’t run. I can only stumble to Him or crawl before Him. But that’s okay. He just said “Come” any way we can. Come unto me… He didn’t say, “Go to church.” He didn’t say, “Listen to a sermon.” He didn’t say, “Get some counseling.” He didn’t say, “Read a book.” He said, “Come to Me.” Come unto me, all ye that labour… What causes us to be weary in our labor? I believe the answer is found in Exodus 5. The people of Israel were in Egypt. Four hundred years previously, they left the Land of Promise due to famine and headed south to Egypt where there was plenty to eat. They lived there for a while, enjoying the abundance and prosperity. But suddenly the situation changed when a new Pharaoh came on the scene, looked at the Jewish people, and said, “We’ve got to control these people. How? We’ll enslave them.” So for hundreds of years, the people of God were enslaved by the Egyptians, baking bricks in the blistering, burning sun for the construction of Pharaoh’s monuments. It has been documented that the Israelites baked enough bricks to build a wall ten feet high and five feet thick from LA to New York City. When Moses said, “Let my people go,” Pharaoh answered, Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.Exo_5:7-9 The Hebrew word translated “labour” in verse Exo_5:9 has the same meaning as the Greek word translated “labour” Jesus used in Matthew 11. Do you sometimes feel like you’re stuck in Egypt, endlessly making bricks for Pharaoh under the blistering sun? Maybe you’ve said, “I’m going to Egypt. I’m going to labor to get ahead in my career,” or, “I’m going to work hard for this material thing.” And for a while, it seemed enjoyable. But then, just like Pharaoh, it turned against you, and the very thing you thought would be wonderful is now a taskmastercracking the whip and enslaving you. “Come to Me,” the Lord says. “All you who are weary from labor, all you who have realized Pharaoh is a fake and Egypt is a rip off, come to Me.” We have a tendency to think, I’m going to be so happy when I accomplish this task, when I reach that goal, when I get this business or that toy. And we labor and labor until we finally say, “This isn’t working out the way I thought it could, the way the commercials promised it would. I’m miserable. I’m tired. I’m weary.” Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden… What does it mean to be heavy laden? Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.Isa_1:4-6 The Lord says to His people, Israel, “You’re beat up and bruised and hurting and desolate and destroyed because you have been laden, loaded with iniquity.” You see, Pharaoh makes us labor, but sin makes us heavy laden. Sin weighs us down. David went through a season of sin on more than one occasion. During one such time, he wrote, There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me. My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long. For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.Psa_38:3-8 Sin will make you tired. What does Jesus say? He says, “Whether you’ve been seduced and sucked in by Pharaoh’s mentalityworking for the world and finding it to be nothing but bricks and wearinessor whether you’ve been heavy laden with iniquity, come unto Me.” Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. How? Take my yoke upon you… The Greek word translated “carpenter” used in Matthew 13 to describe Joseph refers to a finish carpenter rather than for a framer. Tradition has it that the carpenter shop where Jesus worked with His father, Joseph, specialized in making yokes. To yoke two oxen together, the skilled carpenter designed the yoke to fit each ox individually. Since there was always a lead ox yoked together with one who would follow, the yoke was designed in such a way that the lead ox would pull the greater weight. The follower, or assistant ox, was just to go with the flow. Take My yoke upon you… Jesus used an analogy well known to the people who listened to Him when He said not only, “Come unto Me,” but, “Yoke with Me. Let Me be the lead ox. Go with My flow. Don’t try to figure out or change My direction. Let Me lead you.” The story is told of a battleship cruising the Atlantic, off the northern coast of Maine. One stormy evening, the commander was notified, “Sir, there’s a light ahead. Oncoming vessel.” “Signal the oncoming vessel: change your courses ten degrees to the west.” The message was sent. But a light flashed back, “Change your course ten degrees to the east.” “Signal again,” barked the commander. “Change your course ten degrees to the west. I am an admiral!” The light flashed back, “Change your course ten degrees to the east. I am a Seaman Third Class.” By this time, the admiral was incensed as he thundered, “Signal again: Change your course ten degrees to the west. I am a battleship.” And the message came back, “Change your course ten degrees to the east. I am a lighthouse.” So, too, as we impudently and impetuously say to the Lord, “Lord, let’s go my way,” He answers, “No. We’re going My way.” I am the Lighthouse. I am the Light of the world, The Rock of your salvation, the Creator and Sustainer of your soul. I am the Alpha and the Omega, The One who knows the beginning from the end. Trust Me. Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart… This is the only autobiographical statement Jesus ever made. He didn’t say, “Learn of Me because I am majestic and mighty,” or “Learn of Me because I am powerful and prominent.” He said, “That which you discover when you learn of Me will refresh you, for I am meek.” What is meekness? Meekness is strength under control. Picture a big, gentle Saint Bernard surrounded by yapping, snapping, little Chihuahuas. Now the Saint Bernard could open his mouth and chomp the Chihuahuas down in one gulp. He could take his paw and knock them away with one swipe. But the powerful Saint Bernard patiently puts up with the yappers and snappers at his feet. That’s meekness. When I study the Scriptures and learn of Jesus, I am always amazed at His goodness, His grace, His kindness, His gentleness, and His meekness. Jesus says, “Come to Meyou who have been burned out by Pharaoh, you who have been wearied by the folly of sin. Yoke with Medon’t try to maneuver Me, steer Me, or demand of Me. Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly.” The result? …And ye shall find rest unto your souls. You’ll find what your heart is craving: Shabbat. Sabbath. Rest. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. In Acts 15, questions arose concerning Gentile converts and whether or not they should follow the laws and the rituals and be circumcised. Peter gave this response: Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?Act_15:10 “My yoke,” Jesus said, “is easy.” It’s not religionit’s relationship. It’s not Judaismit’s Jesus. It’s not the lawit’s love. Sometimes I hear people say, “I’m so burdened. It’s so tough being a servant. It’s so hard to be a brother, a musician, or a witness.” If it’s heavy, it’s not His burden because His burden is light. If what I’m doing is tough and wearisome to me, then I know it’s not the Lord who has placed that burden upon me. His burden is easy. His load is light. Jesus would say to you today, “Come to Me. Don’t labor under the burdens of Pharaoh. You’ll become weary if you do. Don’t become heavy laden under the bondage of sin. It will rob you of your energy. Don’t become enslaved by the laws of the Pharisees. You’ll be weighed down. Just come to Me. Yoke with Me. Learn of Me. And you’ll find rest in your souls.”