Matt.11:28-30 – 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.”
This parable or invitation is a great picture of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He doesn’t come and put heavy burdens on us but places His light yoke on us that we are not over burdened. This passage melds the message of grace and works in a beautiful way. Jesus calls us to come to Him because we cannot carry the burden of righteousness in our own strength. We are yoked together with Him so that He carries the load. Christ in us does the work, we can’t but He can. Here is how Barclay describes this yoke.
“He says: ‘My yoke is easy.’ The word easy is in Greek chrëstos, which can mean well-fitting. In Palestine, ox-yokes were made of wood; the ox was brought, and the measurements were taken. The yoke was then roughed out, and the ox was brought back to have the yoke tried on. The yoke was carefully adjusted, so that it would fit well, and not chafe the neck of the patient animal. The yoke was tailor-made to fit the ox. There is a legend that Jesus made the best ox-yokes in all Galilee, and that from all over the country people came to him to buy the best yokes that skill could make. In those days, as now, shops had their signs above the door; and it has been suggested that the sign above the door of the carpenter’s shop in Nazareth may well have been: ‘My yokes fit well.’ It may well be that Jesus is here using a picture from the carpenter’s shop in Nazareth where he had worked throughout the silent years.”
So Jesus addresses two major issues in this passage. First, He calls the exhausted trying to live their life in their own strength to come to Him. We find rest in His presence. Secondly, when we are yoked together with Jesus it may look like we are doing the work but it is the invisible God Who is at work in us. It is no longer us striving to please God with our efforts, it is enjoying being near Him and allowing Him to work in us. His yoke is a perfect fit.
What exactly is that yoke in your world? It is His particular calling and purpose for your life. Finding your purpose and putting on His yoke is the place of happiness and productivity in your world.