“Take my Yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29).
When we want to learn something new, whether it be a sport, a skill, or a language, a well-defined lesson plan is key. For example, when my son entered high school, he needed to study a second language.
Not content with the typical options of French, German, or Japanese, my son chose American Sign Language. Each week my son would pour over his defined lesson, diligently practicing the signs.
With his dictionary by his side and the lesson plan before him, he excelled in the program and grew in his knowledge of ASL.
Lesson plans are a key component in learning. But what is the lesson plan for our lives of faith? If we wish to learn about our faith, where do we turn? What is the process of gaining knowledge and skill when it comes to living spiritually fulfilled lives? Is there a lesson plan to which we must turn?
Jesus calls his disciples to learn from him. “Take my yoke upon you,” Jesus says. To be a student of Jesus is to live under Jesus’ yoke.
The word “disciple” simply means “student” or “learner.” Taking the yoke of Jesus upon ourselves is the process of learning to live like Jesus. This is the very definition of discipleship.
Living under the yoke of Jesus is a key component of being a disciple. It is imperative, therefore, that we understand the image that Jesus puts forward. If we wish to grow in our faith and live spiritually fulfilled lives, there are three things we need to know about Jesus’ yoke.
1. The Yoke of the Law
Before we look at how Jesus transforms the image of a yoke, we must recognize how this word was understood by the people of the day. After all, while this term might not be used much in our modern context, the image of a yoke was familiar to Jesus’ hearers.
As agrarian people, they would have been familiar with this agricultural tool. A yoke was a large wooden bar that was placed across the shoulders of oxen as they plowed a field. The yoke tied the oxen to the plow and to the laborious work before them. It was large. It was heavy. It was burdensome.
The picture of oxen tied to a heavy yoke eventually led Israel to develop a second understanding of the term. “Yoke” began to be used metaphorically to describe the demands of the Law.
Rabbis and Priests would often talk about the yoke of the Law. The yoke of the Law was the high demand to keep the Law’s commands and restrictions.
However, because the multiplicity of righteous demands could never be completely met by any human person, these laws were seen to be burdensome and heavy. The yoke of the Law tied people to an ongoing spiritual toil that would never be complete.
This human inability to keep the righteous and just requirements of the Law ultimately speak a word of condemnation over us. Paul writes that the Law was powerless as it was weakened by the sinful flesh (Romans 8:2).
The Law, as holy and as good as it was, effectively becomes a cumbersome load under which we are crushed. Jesus criticized the Pharisees for tying up heavy loads upon people’s shoulders, but never lifting a finger to move them” (Matthew 23:4).
The yoke of the Law represents the spiritual burdens that people carry within them as they try to work toward God’s love and forgiveness.
2. The Yoke of Rest
We cannot understand the live-giving truth of Jesus’ words without recognizing how Jesus calls people away from the burdensome weight of the Law. Jesus describes how the yoke of the Law created a system of perpetual condemnation.
In Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of this passage, Jesus says, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me, and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me — watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace” (Matthew 11:28-30).
Because the Law could never offer eternal rest or freedom, Jesus places himself in opposition to it and invites people to learn from him instead.
Jesus takes the popular image of the yoke of Law and turns it on its head. Jesus places himself in opposition to a way of faith based on duty or demand.
He positions himself as the spiritual authority for all people and invites people to experience grace, not condemnation, rest, not weariness.
As opposed to the high demand of the Law, Jesus says, “My yoke is easy, my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). The yoke of Jesus is the simple demand of Jesus to follow him.
Following Jesus opens the way for spiritual livelihood and vitality and a releasing of all that distracts or haunts us. As we live in his presence, we put down the endless striving for divine affection.
No longer do we feel the need to earn our place before God. With Jesus, we receive a life and love that is freely offered to us. The yoke of Jesus is his presence, grace, mercy, and love; it is not a yoke of duty or obligation.
3. The Yoke of Partnership
It may be tempting to understand the yoke of Jesus as nothing more than the words of Jesus, the red letters in our Bibles. We might assume that Jesus is simply calling us to the ongoing act of reading our Bibles.
If we think that learning from Jesus is nothing more than verse memorization, however, then we make the words of Jesus into nothing more than a lesson plan.
Yet knowing the words of Jesus doesn’t necessarily mean we live them out. Taking Jesus’ yoke upon us demands more than simple knowledge of his words.
When oxen were yoked to the plow, they were also yoked to each other. As the oxen plowed the fields before them, they were tied to each other so that they might engage in the work together, sharing the burden.
When Jesus calls us to take his yoke upon ourselves, therefore, he is calling us to be yoked to him. Taking the yoke of Jesus upon us is to willfully live in connection with Jesus.
The yoke of Jesus is not a lesson plan to learn but a dynamic partnership to live out. Discipleship involves letting Jesus impact our lives. This is how we learn from him; we allow his voice and his presence to affect us, challenge us, and even change us.
It is in our union with Jesus that we find comfort, ease, and rest. This is because we no longer must shoulder our spiritual weights ourselves. The burden of righteous perfection is removed from us as Jesus takes the weight upon himself.
Scripture says that “God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
The heavy yoke of the Law, placed across our shoulders, is transformed into the wooden cross placed upon Christ’s back. As we follow Jesus to the cross, we find ourselves released from every spiritual weight.
What Does This Mean?
So how do we take the yoke of Jesus upon ourselves? We spend time with Jesus, and we open our hearts to his loving presence. We dare to believe that Jesus is present in our lives today. Jesus still speaks; his word is still active.
Thus, learning from Jesus means modeling our life after his example. As much as we are able, we try to incarnate his word and presence in our lives. And the more we do so, the more we let his words sink into us, the more we live lives of spiritual fulfillment and rest.
For further reading:
Why Should We Take Jesus' Yoke Upon Ourselves?
What Does it Mean ‘The Anointing Breaks the Yoke’?
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