Have you ever wondered what Jesus Christ meant by ‘my yoke is easy’?
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” – Matthew 11:28-30
I did some research and I found out a ‘yoke’ is a heavy wooden piece, it is used between a pair of animals such as oxen (kinda like cows). The yoke enables the animals to pull ploughs or loads in carts.
In the original biblical context, it is believed that it was said for the Pharisee’s who made loads of laws and regulations about how to be righteous, but so much so that people just constantly felt full of shame and that they were never good enough. So Jesus was coming to give them rest from this yoke of legalism and pressure, and instead tell them the good news that His ‘yoke’ is one of repentance and faith and in Him they will find rest for their souls instead of trying to ‘earn’ their way to heaven by being super-good and righteous!
In my research I found out there are different types of yoke (head yokes, neck yokes…egg yokes – just kidding!) As people, we may have different yokes weighing us down. Maybe you have some big coursework deadlines coming up, issues with money, problems in your family, or some other pressures. But whatever the ‘yokes’ may be, Jesus says when you come to him He can give you rest and he can make the heavy yokes easy.
Meaning, through Jesus Christ you can receive the strength, power, and wisdom to overcome the difficulties in life!
You may still have to carry the yoke (sorry, no excuses to not do your coursework!) but in the process, you can “cast your anxiety on Him because He cares for you” – 1 Peter 5:7 – and you will be able to get through it because in Philippians 4:13 it says you can do all things through Christ who strengthens us!
“Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God I have put my trust. I will not fear.” – Psalm 56:3-4
When David wrote this psalm, he was very fearful after he fleeing from Saul but he knew he had to put his trust in God. So remember today that whatever your ‘yoke’ may be, you don’t have to deal with it in your own strength. Jesus wants to give you peace and rest, so bring it to Him!
3 comments
Thanks for writing this. With so many stubborn egos spreading so much negativity in the world, this helped to remind me that I am one of those people. I’ve been much too proud lately and I know the only cure is to humbly lay it at the foot of the cross and accept the Lord’s generous offer to let Him lead the way.
Thank you for this article!
Good morning, Daniella. I enjoyed your writing about the yoke Jesus offers. What strikes me is the fact that His yoke is easy. I too,have researched about the construction of an ox yoke.
The yoke is made up of two parts, or sections, and those sectional parts have added parts to hold it altogether.
But the main part of the yoke is the beam which fits across the shoulders, from the base of the neck, to the top of the shoulder.
In constructing the beam, it’s got to be shaped exactly, to fit the neck. A woodworker must make sure that area that is cut out to fit the neck is whittled, and smoothed out for comfort.
And then, there’s the bow that fits under the neck, to hold the yoke(beam) in place, across the shoulders.
“Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me.
To learn from Him, we must accept, and wear His Yoke.
What does He want us to learn? For I am meek and lowly, of heart.His is a heart full of gentleness, and humility. We can’t know humility and gentleness, love and mercy, except we learn it from Him.
“My yoke is easy”; its been constructed to fit each individual neck,for comfort. Our neck speaks of our will. “My burden is light.”
He’ll never load us down with more than we’re able to haul,or carry!
Do you ever feel like you’re carrying your load,and every body else’s load, included?
Somewhere, along our journey, we forget to come to Jesus, to be outfitted, first part of our day, with His yoke.
This is THE DAY that the Lord has made. We WILL be glad, and rejoice in it. While we are yet, still sleeping, He’s been busy making, molding, squeezing, preparing our day, tailor made, just to the specifications of what will go into the making of our day.
He allows pain and pleasure to fill in our day. And if we approach Him, before we actually start it,and learn to say, “Dear Lord, I’m here, to be outfitted with Your Yoke. While wearing His yoke, throughout our day, we walk, side by side, communing with Him.
We learn of His humility, in tough situations, in that painful, thorny obstacle facing us. Sometimes our pride will not allow us to make a first move, to bring reconciliation between someone, where a breach in our relationship has occurred.
By wearing His Yoke, staying in communication throughout our day, we can develop a love relationship with our Lord, that takes us up, in greatest escasty and joy of our spirit and soul.
We learn of His gentleness, His mercy towards others, when we’d really like to “kick ’em in the teeth.” But that attitude springs from “our old man” our carnal nature that Disciple John said, “He must increase, I must decrease.”
It takes daily repentance on our part to God, and His sending down to us His forgiveness.
And not just daily, but all throughout our day that the Lord has made!
So go to Him, first thing, and say,”Lord, I’m here for You to put Your yoke around my neck, harness my will, that I may walk with You today.
God bless you “little Sister!”