THE PARABLE OF THE YOKE
(Matthew 11:28-30)

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 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.
30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

THE LITERAL MEANING OF “YOKE”

A yoke was an important tool in a farming society. It was a harness, usually a wooden beam or frame that joined two animals at the necks and allowed them to work together efficiently, pulling a load or a plough. Oxen were the most common animals used in working the land. A yoke of oxen was a pair (1 Samuel 11:7; Luke 14:19).

THE FIGURATIVE MEANING OF “YOKE”

The word “yoke” is used often in the Bible in a symbolic sense. It was a well-known symbol for submission and service. Negatively, it symbolized the burden of slavery, oppression, punishment, heavy responsibility, and hardship. For example, as a demonstration that Judah and other nations should submit to Nebuchadnezzar, God told Jeremiah to wear a yoke around his neck: "Make a yoke out of straps and crossbars and put it on your neck.” (27:2).

The corresponding image of freedom is breaking loose from the yoke of slavery. Jacob promised his son Esau that eventually he would be free from the control of his younger brother Jacob: “You will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck.” (Genesis 27:40).

Because a yoke joined two animals together, it also became a symbol of close alliance or union. Paul warned against a Christian marrying an unbeliever: “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 6:14). Paul also used this meaning to illustrate the co-operative nature of the work of the Church: “I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.” (Philippians 4:3).

THE SPIRITUAL MEANING OF “YOKE”

Jeremiah described sin as a yoke of bondage around a person’s neck: “My sins have been bound into a yoke.” (Lamentations 1:14). At the Jerusalem Council where the apostle Peter argued for salvation by grace, he said that to require Gentile Christians to submit to the Jewish Law would be an unwelcome yoke: “Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?” (Acts 15:10). Paul defended Christian freedom and cautioned the Galatian Christians not to return to the Law: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (5:1).

A GRACIOUS INVITATION TO EVERYONE

Only Matthew records these words of Jesus, yet they are among the most frequently quoted and best loved of all the sayings of Jesus. Salvation is found in a Person and this is a personal invitation that requires a personal response. The invitation is open to “all” who will come to Christ as Saviour by faith. Without Jesus, every person is “weary and burdened” with the loads of life: we carry regrets, anxieties, responsibilities, fears, guilt, temptations, sorrows and weaknesses. Jesus offers a new “yoke” for service. In New Testament times the phrase “take the yoke of” was used by the Jewish rabbis to mean, “Become the disciple of a certain teacher.” Christ’s use of the word “yoke” meant, “The way of God as I teach it”. The “yoke” was a symbol of partnership with Christ and the Lordship of Christ.

To all who come to him Jesus gives “rest”, or “relief, ease, refreshment, recreation and blessed quiet” (Amplified Bible). The “rest” Jesus offers is not an invitation to relax and take things easy but to a life of obedience to his teaching. Nor does he promise a life without suffering, struggle and disappointment. Jesus offers rest from the burden of sin and a guilty conscience. This is the rest of being reconciled to God through his sacrifice for our sin on the cross. As we experience God’s forgiveness, so our conscience is at peace. We experience “peace with God” (Romans 5:1) and “the peace of God” (Philippians 4:7).

Jesus brings relief, release and satisfaction to the human personality. Matthew also intended Jesus’ words about “rest” as a contrast with the Sabbath rules of the Pharisees that feature in the following chapter. The legalism of the Pharisees with its elaborate rules put “heavy loads on men’s shoulders” (Matthew 23:4). The promise of “rest for your souls” comes from Jeremiah 6:16. Jesus offers the true Sabbath-rest that is based on grace, not works of self-righteousness. It is the rest of faith in the finished work of salvation by Christ on the cross (Hebrews 4:9-10). There is a sharp contrast between light burden of Jesus and the heavy burden of the Pharisees.

DISCIPLESHIP

The images of the “yoke” and the “burden”, together with the word “learn” indicate Christian discipleship. The Greek word translated “learn” means, “to learn from someone as a teacher; to be someone’s disciple.” Jesus is speaking of a way of life that will give us fulfillment and purpose without the unbeliever’s sense of futility and meaninglessness.

His “yoke”, or “being in harness with him”, for the sake of the kingdom of God is the way of genuine repentance, humble faith, and self-abandoning trust, with a loving obedience that makes for true discipleship. When we are tired of the world’s empty pleasures and the seduction of status and admiration in our careers, Jesus calls us back to himself and away from the false values of our secularized culture. Three phrases highlight the values of the world that are opposed to God: “its lusts, its covetousness, and its empty pride in possessions.” (1John 2:16) Although Jesus’ yoke is “easy” and his burden “light” discipleship requires nothing less than the complete commitment of one’s life and self-denial.

LOYALTY TO A PERSON

Jesus challenged people to: “Come, follow me” (Matthew 4:19). This was a call to follow Jesus permanently as a disciple. In this parable Jesus again emphasises that his disciples follow his way of life, “Come to me and learn from me” he said. The Christian way of life is based on a personal loyalty and allegiance to Jesus Christ himself, and not a local church or church leaders, no matter how helpful they may be. We follow his “example” and we “follow in his steps.” (1 Peter 2:21).

Jesus replaces obedience to an external law with a relationship of love: “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (John 14:15) It is primarily a relationship of love that makes his “yoke easy” and his “burden light.” The Greek word “chrestos” translated “easy” (AV; NIV) or “kindly” (Barclay) or “good to bear” (NEB) or “fits perfectly” (NLT) means, “fit for use, useful, good, manageable, mild, pleasant, the opposite to harsh, hard, sharp, bitter.” His yoke fits us well. Just as each yoke was especially made to fit a pair of oxen so his yoke is tailor-made for each of us.

Jesus invites everyone, regardless of their past lives, to come to him. He sets no difficult conditions such as works or achievements to be done. Instead he invites us to come just as we are, with all our sins and mistakes, and to surrender to him as Saviour and Lord. While there is a cross to be carried, battles to be fought, and difficulties to endure, the immeasurable blessings of the gospel of Christ far outweigh them all. His yoke is no burden compared to the bondage of Satan, the slavery of human superstition, and the tyranny of the human ego.

FOR REFLECTION

• What does the light “burden” of Christ consist of?
• Why do we humans so often turn the “easy yoke” of Christ into a list of burdensome religious rules?
• Be encouraged in times of stress and anxiety by the promise of Christ, “I will give you rest.”
• The invitation of the gospel to find rest in Jesus also places a responsibility of discipleship on those who hear it.
• In God alone, through Christ alone, and his yoke of love can we find rest. His commandments are “not burdensome” (1 John 5:3)

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, I rejoice that your way of life is one of rest, purpose and fulfillment. Help me to act and think as your faithful servant and allow you to use me for your purposes. Amen.

Jim Peacock MA (Hons), Diploma of Education.

Arndt and Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon, page 491.
The Translator’s New Testament, The British and Foreign Bible Society, 1973.
Thayer, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, page 671.