Matthew 11:28-30

“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

You may have heard these words before in various ways. It is my favorite verse because it tells us so much about who Jesus is. To fully understand the context, we have to understand what a yoke is. Yokes are used to this day in farming and ranching to help plow fields and for transportation. The picture below might look familiar – it is a two-sided harness designed for oxen (or similar animals) to work in unison and to share the load. Oftentimes handlers will pair an experienced ox with a young steer so the young will learn and become obedient to the commands and directions given by the one in charge.

We can look at this many different ways. The two main images I take away are that Jesus is the owner and handler of the yoke and the other is that Jesus shares the yoke with us. I think both are examples that can be beneficial to the believer, and it is a metaphor after all, so we can have some liberty with how we approach it. In one example, Jesus is directing us on how to live. That is my prayer every day, that Jesus would literally take the reigns and lead me in the direction he wants me to go. In the second example, Christ shares the load with us. He is the experienced one we are yoked to and we are learning from him and his example. This image is the one I tend to think of when I read these words, it is a beautiful picture of who Jesus is to us, one that shows us that we have a savior who is heavily invested in us right here and right now. His life, his example, and his sacrifice were more than enough, he could have accomplished what he did at the cross and that would have been more than enough than we deserve, but it is Jesus’ love for us that he is willing to continually stay involved in our lives.

So, we have looked at what a yoke is and how it translates to what it can mean for us, but now we should try to answer the “why.” Jesus’ words begin with speaking to those who are weary and burdened, and he follows up with offering them rest. Well, that’s interesting right? At least for me, when I look at living my life for Christ, I tend to think that I need to pull up my sleeves and get to work – hard work at that, but Jesus isn’t offering a call to hard work, he is offering rest – specifically he is offering rest for our souls. You see, Jesus isn’t speaking to us about physical burdens, he is offering a solution to the heavy burdens of religion. Religion sounds like it is a great thing, especially when we are discussing Jesus, but Jesus’ ministry came about during the time of probably the most legalistic and religious system of all – the Jewish Pharisees had over 600 laws and regulations that Jews would have to follow in order to be considered “righteous.” Jesus was telling his audience that if they put their trust in him, they would not be burdened or weighed down with all of these restrictive and exhausting rules, but rather would find that his yoke would prove to be light and easy compared to what they were accustomed to.  

Of course, we now know that the law was a compass set in place to show us our need for a savior, which was fulfilled through the sacrifice of Christ at the cross. We find righteousness through the cross and not through a set of rules. If we accept Christ’s yoke, we are free from the penalty of the law or of any religious system for that matter. That burden of trying to prove how religious we are by outward appearance is completely gone, and with it the distraction of making sure we don’t somehow accidentally sin, the anxiety of being judged by other religious people, and the fear that, even with our best efforts, we won’t somehow measure up in the eyes of the Father.

That is what Jesus has done for us, it is the freedom he offers. The shackles of religion have been dismantled, the fear of separation from God is removed, and the eternal victory belongs to Christ, and Christ alone. Now, isn’t that a savior we can cling to? Trust me, it is better than anything else this world has to offer. Christ offers his life to us so we can share in his love and he can show us the way through this difficult journey. He is the only hope we have and Jesus calls us again and again to follow him. Let’s accept him and find our way back to him. His yoke is easy and his burden light, what an incredible savior we have!