Independent reader · Session 1 of 23
Who He Is, Not Only What He Did
Matthew 11:28-30
The one place Jesus tells us what his heart is like
Book reading
Introduction (printed p. 13); Chapter 1: His Very Heart
Most of us can say what Jesus did. He lived, he died, he rose. Ortlund's Introduction asks a second question that gets less attention: who is he? What is he like on the inside? The book is aimed at tired, discouraged, ordinary Christians who suspect that God's patience with them is wearing thin. Its answer is not a new technique. It is a clearer look at the heart of Christ.
The Introduction uses a marriage picture to make the point. You can know a lot of facts about a spouse, such as their job, their habits and their history, and still not know their heart. Facts and heart are two different kinds of knowing, and Ortlund wants readers to move toward the second.
The Introduction is also honest about the hard questions. Is it too human to talk about Christ's feelings? How does his heart fit with the Trinity? With God's wrath? With the God of the Old Testament? Ortlund's answer is to stay close to the biblical text. For help he leans on older writers, Thomas Goodwin above all, along with Sibbes, Bunyan and Owen. They are guides who point back to Scripture, and Scripture stays the source. That is a good habit for any reader: borrow wisdom from people who have looked long at Jesus, then check everything against the Bible.
Chapter 1 takes us to the Bible text the book is built on. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus says, "I am gentle and lowly in heart." This is the one place he describes his own heart. In the Bible, the heart is the inner center of a person, the place where who you really are lives. So Jesus is not offering a mood. He is showing us his core.
Notice who he is talking to: "all who labor and are heavy laden." There is no entrance exam. The invitation goes to the worn out. Later in Matthew 23:4, Jesus rebukes leaders for tying up heavy loads and putting them on other people's shoulders. That is the kind of burden he refuses to add to your life.
Then comes the yoke, the wooden beam that joins two animals so they pull together. Ortlund recasts it away from a burden of law and toward a shared rest. To take his yoke is to be joined to him. He says it is "easy," and the load is "light."
Someone may ask whether gentle means soft. Jesus spoke hard words to the Pharisees and cleared the temple. Ortlund holds that these do not cancel his gentleness. Here is one way to see it: sharpness toward people who crush the weary is part of caring for the weary. The tenderness and the toughness come from the same heart.
The takeaway: Jesus did not just do something for you. He told you what he is like, and what he is like is gentle and lowly.
Key idea
The book looks at who Christ is, not only what he did, and Matthew 11:29 is the one place Jesus names his own heart: gentle and lowly, inviting the weary to rest.
Questions to consider
- The Introduction separates knowing facts about someone from knowing their heart. Where do you know a lot about Jesus but feel unsure about what he is like?
- Jesus invites the "heavy laden." Which of your burdens do you tend to hide from him until you've tidied it up?
Journal prompt
Finish this sentence honestly: "When I picture Jesus looking at me today, I imagine his face is..." Then write what Matthew 11:29 says about whether that picture is accurate.
Practice
1. Set a timer for two minutes. 2. Name one burden you are carrying, in plain words. 3. Pray it to Jesus, ending with the words of Matthew 11:28 as an invitation you are accepting. 4. Sit quietly for the last 30 seconds without asking for anything.