A visit to an old-fashioned, historic farm often includes some old, antique farm equipment. One thing that you might find may be a wooden yoke, a tool that the farmer would put over the shoulders and neck of large animals, often a pair of oxen, to pull wagons or plows. This was very common, actually necessary, on a farm in the days before motorized tractors. The heavier the load that needed to be pulled, the larger the animal, and the heavier the yoke. The yokes helped the pair of oxen to pull together at the same pace, and go in the same direction. In our Scripture, the Lord Jesus invites us to take His yoke upon us. Let’s see what this means.
Just prior to this portion of Scripture, John the Baptist, who had been imprisoned by King Herod, had sent several of his disciples to Jesus to question exactly who He was. After Jesus sent them back with His answer, He turned to some in the crowds, to rebuke them for their rejection of John and his message, along with their rejection of Him, as well (Matthew 11:1-19). Jesus then rebuked the various cities that He had ministered in, for their rejection of His message (Matthew 11:20-24).
Jesus then said a quick prayer of thanks to the Father for those who did believe (vs. 25-26). The “wise and prudent” that Jesus spoke of are those who feel wise in their own eyes. They are the proud and arrogant. They are the people who feel that they know better than anyone else, including even God. The “babes” that Jesus spoke of are those who, like little children, are humbly open to receive the truth of God’s Word. God will reveal His truth to them because they are willing to receive it, and learn from Him. Those who think they are so wise, are not willing to learn God’s truth, and thus will not receive it.
The Savior then gave an open invitation to all to come to Him and hear God’s truth (vs. 28). The ones who respond are those who are burdened by their own spiritual bankruptcy, and the weight of trying to save themselves by keeping the Old Testament Law. We see the same today. There are so many people who believe that the only way they will be accepted by God and get to heaven is by doing all sorts of religious works. They may try keeping portions of the Old Testament Law. They may try to earn or work their way to heaven by doing good works, and giving to many charitable causes, by saying certain prayers, singing in the choir, or leading children’s church, etc. They labor and are burdened by the excessive demands of certain religious leaders (Matthew 23:4; Acts 15:10), and just plain weary in their search for God. They need rest from the endless and fruitless effort they have been putting forth to save themselves by all the works of the law they have been trying to keep. If they will turn to Jesus, He will free them from that effort, and give them rest.
Working for one’s salvation, trying to be “good” and doing “good deeds”, whether secular or religious, is the world’s yoke. It may look light, at first. Throw a few dollars at some charities, do a few good deeds here and there, be a basically good person, help out at one’s church. In reality, though, it is a heavy yoke, because no one, not even the holiest of saints, could ever do enough to merit salvation.
The yoke that Jesus offers us may sound heavy at first, but it leads away from error, and into eternal joy (vs. 29-30). What Jesus requires of us is very little. We just need to have faith in Him, and in His sacrificial, atoning work. Jesus tells us that all we need to do is come to Him. We don’t need to do a lot of works, give sacks of money, eat or not eat special foods, or go on any pilgrimages. Jesus just says to come to Him. His yoke is a light one, and we can then rest from all the weary work of trying to earn a spot in heaven. That “rest”, though, can only be found by placing one’s faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
Once we have come to Him, and placed His yoke on ourselves, we find that we don’t have to carry all of our own burdens by ourselves, those burdens that we face every day. Jesus tells us to cast them upon Him (I Peter 5::7; Psalm 55:22). With the world’s yoke upon us, we are forced to carry those burdens ourselves. However, to those who have come to Jesus, He promises to carry them for us. We do not have to carry our burdens alone.
As the old-time hymn says, “Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me.” Jesus calls us to come to Him, let go of the world’s yoke, and take His yoke upon us. With Jesus we can find rest for our souls.
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