Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

In personality tests I’ve taken over the years, a consistent characteristic of mine is curiosity, questioning and the ability to learn described as a “pursuit of knowledge.” The trick here is to not just absorb knowledge, but to learn.

Learning requires us to move from knowledge to action.

In the passage above, the third verb we’ll consider here is Jesus command to learn. In the Great Commission, Jesus told His disciples to engage others, “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

Are we in danger of making the same mistake of the Pharisees who, instead of easing the burden on the people, heaped new laws and new restrictions on the Jewish people – 613 additional laws!

Instead, when asked about the most important laws, Jesus’ response was short. Love God. Love others. Jesus quotes from the Deuteronomy passage we looked at yesterday.

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:37-40

What does it mean to love God and others?