Come Day 9 Come To Relate: Digging Deeper
February 20, 2025
Discover the original intent of Scripture. Make good application to our everyday lives.
Become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!
Matthew 11:28-30
The Original Intent
1) How can taking up Jesus’ yoke bring rest for our souls? (verses 28-29)
First century farmers would join oxen using a wooden yoke so they could work hard plowing or carrying a heavy load. A yoke of oxen was an ordinary sight, making the yoke an apt symbol for Jesus to use in His teaching.
Marvin Vincent explains, “One of the most common figurative expressions of the time was that of the yoke for submission to an occupation or obligation.” The concept was referenced in the Shema, a public prayer, wherein, according to Alfred Edersheim, “The section Deuteronomy 6:4-9 was said to precede Deuteronomy 11:13-21, so that we might take upon ourselves the yoke of the kingdom of heaven, and only after that the yoke of the commandments.”
Jesus used the symbol of the yoke because it was well-known to His audience as representing submission. In contrast to the striving of the oxen, Jesus promised that taking up His yoke would bring rest. (verse 29) Christine Caine exhorts that the rest Jesus offers is a rest “where we labor from acceptance, not for acceptance . . . from a place of knowing we are loved by God, not striving to get that love from God . . . where we labor from our identity as sons and daughters of the King of kings and the Lord of lords.”
We often make things harder for ourselves than the Lord intended. The yoke we try to bear on our own includes worry, stress, and endeavoring to gain acceptance. Jesus’ yoke is easy because it comes with help and strength from Jesus Himself. (Philippians 4:13)
He lays out good works for each one of us and makes us able to complete those works in Him. (Philippians 2:13) I urge each one of us to take up Jesus’ yoke today and find rest!
The Everyday Application
1) How can taking up Jesus’ yoke bring rest for our souls? (verses 28-29)
As a kid, I had a few issues with anxiety and worry, but they didn’t really surface until I was married and had to share everything with another person and put my trust in him. I struggled to relinquish control as my completely opposite-from-me-husband did all the things not the way I would. I reacted to his absent-mindedness and inattention to detail with hyper-vigilance and constant reminders so I wouldn’t worry about lost keys, forgotten appointments, or the freezer door left open.
I fretted and fussed trying to avoid calamity, but I didn’t perceive it until we spent time away with some new friends. I recognized the same anxiousness in the wife’s behavior as in my own, and I realized I was causing unrest in my life and marriage because of my striving and worrying. I needed the rest for my soul that Jesus promises in Matthew 11:29.
Ruth Chou Simons asserts, “When we put our hope in Jesus, we trade restless feelings about our not-yets and not-enoughs for His already and all-satisfying. We trade the burden of trying to access what we think we’re missing for the rest that comes when we receive what God fully provides . . . We can be at rest right where we are because our ability to ‘be still, and know that [He is] God’ (Psalm 46:10) is not dependent on whether our circumstances feel restful or light. It’s wholly dependent on where we turn for true rest.”
I was able to give control of averting disaster over to Jesus and rest in knowing that God was in charge. Working with the Lord, I became a help to my husband rather than a micro-manager of his every move (Proverbs 27:15-16) and we could be at rest.
The Original Intent
2) Why does Jesus emphasize that He is lowly and humble in heart? (verses 29-30)
In Matthew 11:29, Jesus describes Himself as “lowly and humble in heart.” Jesus emphasizes His humility because it is a trait required for a heart to be at rest. He invites those who learn from Him and His submission to the Father, to take up this same yoke, finding rest in relaxing into the Father’s wise, loving care. He makes a way for us to follow Him, and it is done by donning humility. (John 10:9)
Christine Caine suggests, “Much of the burden that we feel, the weariness that we feel…is because we are on our minds all the time. It’s so releasing to get yourself off your mind and start thinking about someone else.” When we are humble of heart, we are not worried about receiving our due or getting what we think we deserve. Humility causes us to think about Jesus and His will. (Psalm 25:9)
Ray Ortlund suggests that Jesus’ “heart is not touchy, not sullen, not resentful, not haughty. The Son of God came down as an egoless nobody to make friends with self-important people like us, and he has not changed.” Jesus wants us to be lowly and humble in heart so we will be made more like Jesus. (Philippians 2:8, Romans 8:29)
In following the humble Christ we find salvation (Psalm 149:4), exaltation (James 4:10), and wisdom (Proverbs 11:2). God wants us to walk humbly with Him (Micah 6:8) so we can imitate Him (Ephesians 5:1) and learn from Him. When we rely on our humble Lord and walk in His ways, we find rest for our souls.
The Everyday Application
2) Why does Jesus emphasize that He is lowly and humble in heart? (verses 29-30)
I attended a child’s birthday party outdoors under a giant tent reserved for the small gathering of friends and family. When the mom revealed the fall-themed cupcakes, all the kids were excited—including a tiny interloper who wandered in and plopped down at the table with the other kids, hands outstretched for his sumptuous treat.
Some parents tried to discover where the uninvited guest came from, but the party mom just welcomed him with open arms. She let him join the fun with the party guests while others sorted out where his family was. She wasn’t upset that this unattended child crashed her party. She didn’t make snarky comments to the negligent mom when she finally showed up or complain to management about the mishap, demanding recompense.
This mom simply welcomed and accepted the little guy. I think of her humble response sometimes when I watch viral videos of customers throwing food at workers who messed up their orders or airplane passengers de-boarding because someone grew violent about the seating arrangements.
These examples help us understand that Jesus emphasized the character trait of humility in Matthew 11:29. Without humility, we can’t be like Jesus. And one of God’s great plans for all Christ followers is to change us into His image. (2 Corinthians 3:18)
David Mathis declares, “True humility is not the denigrating of humanity, but God’s image shining in its fullness . . . To humble ourselves is to come ever closer, step by step, to the bliss and full flourishing for which we were made.”
When we are humble, the light of God shines through us. What a blessing that God walks with us on each step of our journey to Christ-like humility! (Proverbs 3:34)
The Original Intent
3) Why does Jesus say His yoke is easy and His burden is light? (verse 30)
Jesus declares in Matthew 11:30 that His “yoke is easy and [His] burden is light.” These are statements in contradiction for a “yoke” denotes hard work and toil and “burdens” suggest heaviness. Yet Jesus says His yoke is not hard but easy, and His burden is not heavy but light.
Jesus can say this because all we need to do to take His easy yoke upon ourselves is trust in Him and follow Him. We are not responsible to chart the course, just to follow it in His strength. (Deuteronomy 31:6) David Guzik declares, “The yoke is easy and the burden is light because He bears it with us. Borne alone, it might be unbearable; but with Jesus it can be easy and light.”
J. H. Jowett concurs, saying, “The fatal mistake for the believer is to seek to bear life’s load in a single collar. God never intended a man to carry his burden alone. Christ therefore deals only in yokes! A yoke is a neck harness for two, and the Lord himself pleads to be One of the two. He wants to share the labor of any galling task.”
Our burdens are light because Jesus bears them. (Psalm 68:19) His yoke is easy because taking up His yoke means accepting His grace and leaning on His strength. Scotty Smith suggests that to be yoked to God “is to realize (He) fully carr(ies) us, not just our burdens. (He is) our righteousness, our hope, our peace—all the way Home.” What a privilege to be yoked to our Savior, trusting everything to Him!
The Everyday Application
3) Why does Jesus say His yoke is easy and His burden is light? (verse 30)
I often mistakenly equate serving and pleasing God with working hard for God. I figure that the harder the work is, the better pleased He must be. The more lessons I plan, the more time I spend at church, the more devotions I write, the more pleasing God will find me. I fill my days striving to do the “God things” and soon feel weighed down, exhausted, and frustrated, much like Mary’s sister, Martha. (Luke 10:38-42)
I get weary in well-doing (Galatians 6:9) because I am doing everything on my own without relying on the strength and grace God lovingly provides. In Matthew 11:30, Jesus tells us that His yoke is easy and His burden light. We don’t have to shoulder all the work, or even half of the work. God lets us rest in the knowledge that He is in charge.
Christine Caine asserts that His yoke is easy because “Jesus does the work…What we need to do, our part of the yoke, is to believe and abide.” Kath Thomas suggests that “Perhaps part of that light yoke is resting in the knowledge that our God is sovereign. All things are in His hands and we can trust Him for our future, our present, and even our past. I don’t have to work it all out. . .”.
What pleases God is obedience (1 John 5:3), not my busyness. He commands us take His yoke upon ourselves and learn from Him. That is so much better than trying to do everything on my own.
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