Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light. Matthew 11:28-30
If you read the word “yoke” and picture oxen pulling a plow, it looks like heavy drudge work, complete with a taskmaster. There’s the threat of the whip if we step out of line or don’t do it right. Even when the master is good, kind, and loving, a slave is still burdened with a load to carry. How are our souls supposed to find rest and lightness under that weight? That’s exactly Jesus’ point – we never can. We’re not supposed to. We are not slaves. We’re sons and daughters. We were never meant to carry a burden.
You see, Jesus is contrasting the heart of God with the teaching of the Pharisees. They were so wrapped up in rules and regulations – in doing it right – that they completely missed out on grace, which has always been the only way we can be made right with God. They crushed people with “impossible religious demands and never lift[ed] a finger to help ease the burden” (Matthew 23:4). There was no hope of getting from the burden of the requirements to the freedom of a love relationship.
If the religion you’re taught in the synagogue, in the church, doesn’t give you any hope, they’re not really teaching you about the Father. They don’t know Him. They don’t have an intimate relationship with Him. Because that’s what Jesus offers – the chance to intimately know and experience the deep and healing love of God. It’s a safe place. A place to rest your weary soul.
There are so many burdens we haul around. Regrets for the things we’ve done, and the things we’ve left undone. The ton of sin we’ve chained ourselves to. The excess baggage of other people’s sins against us. The hopeless burden of attempting to be perfect. To all this, Jesus says, “That’s not your burden. It was never meant to be your burden.”
No one can carry the weight of all those laws and requirements. No one can carry the load of perfection. That’s why salvation is not by works but by grace. That’s why we rely solely on the finished work of Christ on the Cross.
The One who loves you wants to do the heavy lifting. God sent Jesus to give us eternal life (John 6:27). His job is to restore us to wholeness. He did that by putting mankind’s sinful nature to death on the Cross – “Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin” (Romans 6:6). Breaking our bondage to sin, rescuing us from the enemy, delivering us safely to the Kingdom, restoring our unity with God – those are all His responsibility.
Our responsibility, our burden, is to “believe in the one he has sent” (John 6:29). That’s it. Nothing more. Just believe. When we do, God doesn’t shackle us with a ball and chain, or hand us a weighty tome of “thou shallt not’s” and “you should’s”. Instead He gives us a baby wrapped in a blanket, light as a feather. Here is hope, and rest from the impossibility of trying to please God on our own.
When Jesus says, take my yoke, He’s really making a proposal – Will you be my companion throughout life? It’s not a burden to carry, not a master to serve, not a plow to drag – it’s a wedding. Jesus invites us – Know me intimately. Be intimately known. Put like that, I want to be yoked to the Lord Jesus Christ. I joyfully pledge my allegiance, enter the covenant, make my vows to be bound by love and walk in lock-step with the Lover of my soul.