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
What a great promise Jesus Christ has offered us:
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
From the November 15 devotional reading, I offered two considerations from this well-known verse:
- The invitation itself: “come to me.” Jesus desires to make Himself know to us in our time need.
- The intended recipients of the invitation: “all who are weary and burdened.” Jesus invites us to reach out to Him by faith to find rest from all the weightiness this fallen world forces us to carry.
Today, we consider the challenge that accompanied the promise, and the amazing and necessary result.
The challenge.
Following the invitation and promise, Jesus said (v. 29), “take my yoke upon you and learn from me.”
Yes, Jesus has a yoke, but not in the sense that one may think. The idea of “yoke” in this passage becomes influenced by the term “learn.” In the Jewish culture of Jesus’ day, a “yoke” was not only referenced in agriculture (a heavy wooden collar or mantle used to direct large animals), but also in the field of teaching and learning. Sometimes a student would metaphorically speak of being under the yoke of a teacher (as the yoke would represent the guidance and direction from the teacher to the student or disciple). Careful obedience to the truth of Jesus becomes the process of taking upon our lives His yoke. This idea of “learn” is a form of the word “mathetes”, meaning a disciple or learner. So, the challenge encourages us to take upon ourselves the yoke of genuinely and relationally following after Jesus – just as He intended for His original disciples.
As we consider being yoked with Christ, consider the blessings.
Jesus said, “you will find rest for your souls.” What a marvelous prospect for each of us who fight daily with the stressors of life. When we receive His yoke, which reflects HIS Loving lordship over us, His yoke becomes one of rest. In the invitation, Jesus said that if we come to Him, we will find rest – a reprieve from labor. This is the calm and refreshing freedom from striving. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) observed of this passage, “we are to come to Him and learn from Him this rest that He is.” This rest represents the ease and peace of being under His care and direction. So, the yoke of Christ calms us and gives us rest as we discover in our following of Him all we need for life and godliness. The yoke of Christ then moves us into a deeper experience of His gentleness and humility. Jesus said (v. 30) “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” This quality of the yoke is the kindliness and the humility that represents the lowliness of the heart of Jesus – the heart that rules the universe yet desires to serve and meet our needs. Being yoked with Christ brings rest, and a journey that is easy and light.
Do these words seem too out of reach or unrealistic? If so, look back at this promise of Jesus again and again. Prayerfully receive His promise by faith. Truly desire to be “yoked” with Christ as His follower. And watch the stressors of life fade into a real experience of walking in the rest of our Savior. Live under His yoke and free from the enslavement of the stressful yoke of this world.
BLESSINGS.
READ
Ready Matthew 11:28-30 several times, and rejoice that Jesus not only carries your burdens, He carries you.
