In the eleventh chapter of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus said, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
The first thing I notice about this passage is how personal it is. Jesus says, “Come to me”. He doesn’t say “Come to the preacher”, or “Come to the church”, or “Come to a code of moral conduct”. There’s nothing wrong with the preacher or the church as long as they stick to their proper function: directing all enquiries to Christ, the one who says, “Come to me.”
The first thing Jesus promises to those who come to him is rest. However you may want to define the word “rest”, one thing is certain, it’s not work. The point is that the Christian life is not meant to be a burden – it’s not meant to be labor and work.
Next, Jesus says, “take my yoke upon you.” A yoke is a wooden crosspiece designed to connect two animals together. Jesus uses the word “yoke” as a metaphor for our relationship with him. In modern slang we might say, “Get hooked up to me”. The yoke symbolizes the fact that those who believe in Jesus are in a spiritual union with him. Ordinarily, in an agricultural setting, the yoke is used to increase the pulling power of the animals joined together. However, it may also be used in another way. A young, or inexperienced animal may be yoked together with a stronger animal who already knows how to do the work that is required. Once they are yoked together, the inexperienced animal, by necessity, walks along with the stronger animal, and learns the ways of the farm. However, in reality, the stronger animal is pulling all the weight – the younger animal is simply walking along. It is for this reason that Jesus says, “My yoke is easy, my burden is light”. He intends to pull all the weight and, spiritually speaking, do all the work. If your Christian life is not easy and light, maybe you are yoked to something other than Jesus. Sometimes we are deceived into thinking that Christianity consists of a never-ending process of strenuous moral striving. This is not the case at all – it’s not meant to be difficult– it’s simply walking along with Jesus through your everyday life, and allowing him to pull all the weight.