Jesus, My Rabbi
With Jay Peckett
Growing up in a Christian household, I've "known" Jesus my entire life. But it wasn't until 18 months ago that my eyes were opened to who He truly was during His 33 years on Earth; a human. Yes, we believe He was fully God but He was also fully human, and it’s the human aspect that adds SO MUCH to the story of Christ we all “know” so well.
Not only was He human, but He was also a Rabbi. And while this may not mean much on the surface, the more I dived into this, the more colour and meaning His story had – an incredible example of a life lived through love.
In 1st century Jewish culture, all boys wanted to become a Rabbi. Memorising Leviticus by age 6 and the full Torah by age 12, with progression determined by how well a 12-year-old could ask and answer questions with the teachers of the law – sound familiar? The next stage would last 18 years, and if you made it through, at 30-years-old you would be baptised to become a Rabbi. Ever wonder why there’s this gap in Jesus’ story between 12 and 30?
Once a Rabbi, Jesus had to teach the Torah as determined by His Rabbi’s yoke. A yoke being a Rabbi’s interpretation of the ancient scripts. That is, unless Jesus had authority. And the only way to have authority was if when during the baptism there were two verbal witnesses. Think of the verses…
“Behold the Lamb of God…” (John 1:29)
“This is my Son with whom I am well pleased…” (Matthew 3:17)
You’ll also note other verses like “You do not teach as the others teach, but as one with authority” (Matthew 7:29) and “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). Ever wonder how He could draw such crowds? The 1st-century society was used to a yoke that required temple visits, animal sacrifice, brutal punishments and it shunned those who were most in need. But not Jesus.
Once a Rabbi, the next step was to appoint disciples. This was usually done through the words “Follow me”, and it was usually to those who had been qualified as a 12-year-old to study to become a Rabbi. Jesus however, found men the world had disqualified and qualified them. That is the yoke of my Rabbi.
Think of the time where the crowds pressed Jesus to stone a woman for adultery, asking what His yoke said. He complied with the law but because he had authority, only those without sin could throw a stone. In Jewish culture, you had to have 2 witnesses to condemn someone. Jesus couldn’t remove the sin, but instead, He removed the witnesses and challenged her to change her life. Is that not how we want to be treated when we mess up? That is the yoke of my Rabbi.
We can either be right about one verse or we can be bigger than that and live a life that fulfils scripture.
Think of the criminal being crucified next to Him, or the men gambling at the foot of the cross. Even then, the yoke of my Rabbi forgave those who did not deserve it. Those who didn’t even ask for it. Because He loves first, not because we earned it.
Funnily enough, Jesus’ yoke can be found throughout the Bible. Abraham, Moses, David, all did terrible things, and God used them all. Ruth shouldn’t have been accepted according to scripture yet He used her bloodline. He has been qualifying the disqualified since the beginning of time, treating those as they are worth, not as they deserve.
And He was killed for it, in the worst way imaginable. Yet through it all, He loved and forgave the very people as they did it. That is the yoke of my Rabbi.
While I wish I could take credit for this insight, this is basically my sermon notes from my favourite message about Jesus. You can listen to the full message from Shane Willard here.
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