Living in the world is tiring. From work, to school, to familial duties, to just living life, it can all be so much. The good news is that our God is a God of peace, and he offers us rest. Matthew 11:28-30 gives followers of Jesus an invitation to come to Him, as well as a description of who He is and why we should follow Him, and promised rest if we accept His invitation to us. I have found much encouragement in this passage, and it helps me remember who I am following: the gentle King Jesus.
In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus says,
“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.” (NIV)
There is some significant parallelism in this passage (notice how Jesus repeats concepts), and some have even seen a chiastic (e.g., ABCDCBA) structure in the passage. From this passage, we see three different types of statements Jesus makes. He gives us an invitation, a description, and then a promise. The first part of verses 28 and 29 are the invitations (“Come to me . . . Take my yoke upon you and learn from me”). The second part of verses 28 and 29 are the descriptions (“all you who are weary and burdened . . . I am gentle and humble in heart”). The last part of verses 28 and 29 are about promised rest (“I will give you rest . . . you will find rest for your souls”). Verse 30 is another description of Jesus’ yoke that all the other verses lead to.
Take My yoke upon you: “I have found much encouragement in this passage, and it helps me remember who I am following: the gentle King Jesus.”
Invitation
First, Jesus gives us an invitation: to come to Him, to take His yoke as our own, and to learn from Him.
The first invitation we get is to come to Him, to draw close to Him. This isn’t about meriting an invitation; it’s about accepting the invitation He has already given.
The second invitation we get is to take Jesus’ yoke as our own. Yokes are heavy pieces of wood that sit on cattle and help them pull farm equipment and guide them in the right direction. The cattle are side by side; wherever one goes, the other goes. Jesus’ agricultural audience would have been familiar with yokes. Jewish literature sometimes used the analogy of yokes to represent obedience, specifically to God and His law (e.g., Sirach 51:23-27). The Old Testament uses “yoke” to refer to bondage to a governmental regime (e.g., 2 Chronicles 10:14; Jeremiah 27:12), or even to a false god (Numbers 25:3). We all have decided to carry some sort of yoke on us. We must decide which one we will take: the world’s yoke or Jesus’s yoke.
The third invitation we get is to learn from Jesus. At my college, we have a statue of Jesus with the words “learn from me” next to it. He wants us to learn from Him. As disciples, we are learners (disciple literally means “a learner”). He wants us to learn how to live like Him and to live life to the full (John 10:10). Because of who Jesus is and the yoke He provides, we can gladly follow Him.
Take My yoke upon you: “Because of who Jesus is and the yoke He provides, we can gladly follow Him.”
Description
Second, Jesus gives descriptions, first of us and then of Himself. Jesus invites people who are weary and burdened. The Jews felt weary and burdened during this time. The Pharisees cared a lot about God’s law, but added extra, burdensome rules that weren’t necessary. Even though we aren’t living in the same era with the same exact issues, there are so many things that the world expects us to do that make us worn out.
How does Jesus describe Himself? The good news is that Jesus is gentle and humble in heart. Jesus is a refreshing contrast to the Pharisees. Jesus is gentle while the Pharisees are not. Hosea 11:4 says “I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them” (NIV). This describes God caring for his people like a farmer who carefully cares for his flock, and like a father who loves his children with gentleness. While the world does not value gentleness, our God does.
Promise
Third, Jesus says twice that He will give us rest—rest for our souls. The word “rest” here means to refresh or to get new strength or energy. It is easy to become burnt out if we aren’t intentional with resting. A professor at my school said, “God’s rest was written into the fabric of creation. It’s rooted in the creation of the world.” The question we have to ask ourselves is if we are going to pursue this rest or not. God made us to need rest, and we are wise to follow his commanded rest.
Take My yoke upon you: “The question we have to ask ourselves is if we are going to pursue this rest or not.”
Final Description
Last, in verse 30, Jesus says, “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” The weight of all the other verses rest on this. Because Jesus’s burden is easy and light, we should accept his invitation. While the world will leave you weary and burdened, Jesus will give you a yoke that will leave you feeling easy and light. When we become side by side with Jesus, the yoke is light because He does all of the heavy lifting for us.
The world pressures us in many ways, but following Christ means giving up the impossible task of doing all of these things. Following Christ means giving up the task of carrying our sin! Jesus did all the work for us at the cross, so all we have to do is believe and follow.
Galatians 5:1 says, “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.” We are free from the heavy burdens and yoke of slavery and the world. Paul says don’t go back to our old yokes of slavery. If you find yourself returning to these old yokes from time to time, remember and return to the invitation from Jesus: take His yoke.
“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.”
Conclusion
While the world is a place that leaves us tired, we are offered to live under a different yoke. Our gentle and humble King Jesus invites us to take His yoke that is freeing and that will give us rest. The question is, will you accept the invitation with all of its offers?
