As we have put Covid 19 in the rearview mirror, it seems that our society has returned to a pace of life and activity that creates constant stress. The costs of such stress are astronomical, disintegration of marriage relationships, the fracturing of families, and the increasingly documented breakdown of our health. Beneath this stress is often the unrelenting pressure of having to perform. Many of us, for numerous developmental, psychological, and even spiritual reasons, are living a life that feels more driven than called, more stressful than restful. Behind this toilsome existence may be the subtle need to achieve to feel worthwhile because we are gratified only by accomplishment. Gordon MacDonald observes,
"Somewhere in the process of maturation, a person discovers that the only way he can feel good about himself and his world is to accumulate accomplishments. This discovery may be the result of formative influences. I was standing at the entrance to the arena where my granddaughter plays indoor soccer. A small boy, no older than nine, came out the door and spied his father. 'I scored a goal, Dad,' he said with excitement. 'Yeah,' his father replied, 'but you missed the chance for two others.' A psychology of achievement sometimes captures the heart in circumstances like that" (Ordering Your Private World).
Jesus addressed this relentless internal pressure to have to achieve, and the resulting internal exhaustion we experience when he said, Come to me, all 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 (Mt 11:28-30). This episode examines Jesus’ only self-portrait in Scripture—that he is meek and lowly of heart, and why those qualities make taking on his yoke the pathway to REST.
WHO ARE THOSE WHO NEED THE REST JESUS OFFERS?
From the text we know that it is 1) those who labor: (KOPIAO). This Greek word has two connotations, growing weary, and toiling. In Luke 5:5, it is used for Peter and his fishing partners who were exhausted from toiling all night to catch fish but caught nothing. 2) It is those who are heavy laden: (PHORTION). This word means “something carried.” It indicates that at some time in the past a load, i.e. an external burden was placed on this person. These words and the context enable us to identify five categories of those who need Jesus’ rest.
A. Those needing rest from having to depend upon themselves. It is important to see the context of this invitation of Jesus to come to him. In verses 20-24, Jesus denounces the hard-heartedness of the cities, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum where he had done most of his miracles. Jesus then says, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and REVEALED THEM TO LITTLE CHILDREN.” Little children know they are utterly helpless; they cannot depend upon themselves. It is those who have a child-like need to trust in Jesus not the proud, resistant, self-reliant who will receive Jesus’ invitation to come to him. As the ESV Study Bible says, “All you who labor and are heavy laden refers, in the wider application to Jesus providing ‘rest for your souls’, meaning eternal rest for all who seek forgiveness of their sins and freedom from the crushing legalistic burden and guilt of trying to earn salvation by good works.”
The hard-hearted who refuse to repent and come to Jesus, refuse to be yoked with him. They refuse to give up their independence. The irony is that those who refuse to acknowledge their need for a savior, trusting themselves, instead, to merit eternity in heaven must carry a horrible psychological burden—not knowing if their good works are good enough! Their guilty conscience demands that they balance their guilt with righteousness, so the law becomes a taskmaster, driving them, pressuring them to perform, or in some cases hardening their hearts further as they suppress God’s truth. The only path to rest for the soul, is to acknowledge that we can never make ourselves holy enough to deserve to be in God’s holy presence, placing our trust in Christ’s atoning work on our behalf causing God to decare us justified in his sight. Only then, can the soul find escape from the tyranny of worrying, “Have I been good enough, to earn my way to heaven?” Only Christ’s sufficiency to atone for my sins WILL ALLOW MY SOUL TO FIND REST.
B. Those needing rest from having to perform to be loved. Could there be any pressure more horrible than believing that you must perform well, or you will not be loved? Is there any greater cause for insecurity than believing you must prove you are loveable to be loved? Conversely, is there any form of REST more foundational to human well-being than knowing that Jesus loves me unconditionally? Jesus’ call “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden” reflects the same, wide-open arms of the prodigal son’s father. If you make performing well your God, that God will abandon you when you mess up. If success is your God that God will throw you away when you fail. If respect from others is your God, that God will turn its back on you the moment you do something shameful. The tyranny of having to perform to be loved haunts millions of people and drives them into isolation when they fail. One wise mother was aware of this aspect of human nature as she tracked down her teen daughter who had run away from home and, most likely, messed up big time.
"Maria knew exactly what her fifteen-year-old daughter, Christiana, would have to do for a living if she ever ran away from her village to the city. That is why her heart broke when she awoke one morning to find her daughter’s bed empty. Maria knew immediately where her daughter had gone and what she must do to find her. She threw some clothes in a bag, gathered all her money, and bought a bus ticket for Rio de Janeiro. She stopped by the drugstore to take as many pictures of herself as she could afford. Maria visited every hotel, nightclub, or bar where prostitutes hung out. At each place she left her picture—taped on a bathroom mirror, tacked to a hotel bulletin board, fastened to a corner phone booth. On the back of each photo she wrote a note. But before long, Maria was out of photos and money. So, broken-hearted, she returned home."
"A few weeks later, young Christiana descended the hotel stairs. Her young face was tired. Her big brown eyes no longer danced with the laughter of youth but spoke of pain and fear. Her dream had become a nightmare. She longed to trade these countless beds for the secure pallet of her bedroom at home. But the little village was in too many ways too far away. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, her eyes noticed a familiar face. She looked again and there on the lobby mirror was a small picture of her mother. Christiana’s eyes blurred with tears as she crossed the room and removed the small photo. Written on the back was this compelling invitation: “Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn’t matter. Please come home.” She did. (Max Lucado, No Wonder They Call Him Savior)
When we throw his yoke off yielding to sin, his invitation remains, "Come home." Always.
C. Those needing rest from having to perform to feel valuable. To every Jewish listener listening to Jesus’ invitation, the word, yoke meant one thing: the Law. The Mishnah says, He that takes upon himself the yoke of the law, from him shall be taken the yoke of worldly care. But he that throws off the yoke of the law, upon him shall be laid the yoke of worldly care (Michael Card, Matthew). Jesus is here contrasting the toilsome burden of being yoked to the law, with the freedom of being yoked to him. The scribes and Pharisees made keeping the law their idol, the God in whom they found their worth. In so doing they heaped 613 burdensome commands on the laity. From Matthew 23:
They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted (vs 4-7).
Jesus’ words reveal that the scribe and Pharisees sought to find their personal value in their commitment to the Law and their extensive applications of it. Theirs was the epitome of the driven, performance pressured life. What is worse, that performance was only outward, doing their deeds to be seen by others. They sought the seats and titles of honor, which they claimed for devoting themselves to the burden of keeping their man-made applications of God’s Law. In sharp contrast is being yoked to Jesus, the one who humbled himself. He will lead us into the confident path of true righteousness, not the insecure path of legalism driven by the need to prove we are better than others. It replaces performance pressure to prove our value with REST, because we already know how valuable we are: he redeemed us by the prescious blood of Christ shed for our sins.
D. Those needing rest from having to live up to other’s expectations. The word that Jesus uses for “heavy-laden” or “burdened” is PHORTION. The verb means that at some time in the past a load, an external burden, was placed on this person. We all live under the burden of others’ expectations for us. The field of men’s ministry is filled with the stories of men being driven all through life by the need to live up to their father’s expectations because they never felt that they did. Former NFL linebacker, Dave Simmons, explains how growing up under the tyranny of an impatient father with unreasonable expectations led to a driven life with enormous, unhealthy pressure to perform.
"To this day, I can’t capture the feeling of a job well done. I constantly focus on my mistakes and am negative toward all that I do. I set goals too high and fail. I sabotage things and fail. I resent and rebel against authority and I fail. I go to ridiculous lengths to reach perfection in order to get compliments and recognition for my work. But then I can’t accept appreciation and feel like a failure. Even though all the facts say I am successful, my emotions convince me that I am a failure."(Cited from Great Dads Seminar.)
The answer to the powerful voices that drive us to be people pleasers is the REST of Jesus. Abiding in his love keeps re-filling our tanks, not eliminating our need for human love but weakening its ability to drive our behavior, oppressing us with the need to perform a certain way to be liked.
E. Those needing rest from having to prove we can handle life on our own. Let’s be clear. We ought to be men who handle our life well, who exercise dominion over our heart loyalties, our hear attitudes and over every sphere of life where we have influence. God calls us to be strong men who take charge of our lives, not passive men who confuse being a servant with non-leadership. In fact, the biblical writers, David, Paul, and John appealed to men to be strong. But being strong men who step up and lead our homes, families, and churches does not require OUR strength but JESUS’ strength. Our personality may not make us a take-charge person. But regardless of personality, all men are assigned the calling to exercise dominion in our lives. The strength to do so, however, comes from Christ. The older I get, the more dumbfounded I am by Jesus’ unwavering refusal to shame me for my weakness, not matter what it is. Even when it comes to things that normal men can do on their own, but I can’t, I never sense a reluctance of Jesus to give me his strength. Perhaps that is the whole point to this text—being yoked together with Jesus whose strength, then, becomes mine.
CALL TO ACTION: TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU, AND LEARN FROM ME
This is a call to obedient discipleship. The yoke on the animal enables its owner to direct it. Christianity without a call to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness is not Christianity at all. The yoke was a wooden frame joining two animals, usually oxen. Being joined with Christ means joining him in the direction he is going. What is that direction? He is spreading his kingdom agenda of restoration of men’s broken relationship with God, broken relationships with each other, internal brokenness, and brokenness in our relationship with creation. Notice that with this call to take up his yoke, Jesus says “learn from me.” The word for learn is MANTHANO akin to the word MATHETES, disciple. As his disciples we are yoked with him, learning how to follow him, our master.
FOUR REASONS TO OBEY THIS CALL
A. He is gentle. The Greek word is PRAUS, meek. Meekness never means weakness. A weak ox would not be harnessed to do the farmer’s work! Meekness is used here as the opposite of being yoked to the brutal taskmaster, the Law—the harsh unrelenting demands of justice through punishment for our sin. Jesus would die to turn away God’s holy, just wrath, which required that all evil be punished. The technical term is propitiation. The truth is that all of God’s wrath for your sins, and all of his wrath for my sins has already been poured out. There is none left for us. It was fully spent on Jesus. Unlike being yoked to the accusing, disquieting voice of the law, we are yoked to the Great High Priest, who has already shed his blood for us. And now, We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Counselors, Henry Cloud and John Townsend observe, “When we finally understand that God isn’t mad at us anymore, we become free to concentrate on love and growth instead of trying to appease him. (How People Grow).
B. He is lowly in heart. This word lowly isoften translated humble in the NT. Dane Ortland, in his book, Gentle and Lowly explains:
Paul uses this word when he tells us not to be haughty, but associate with the “lowly” (Rom 12:16), referring to the socially unimpressive, those who are not the life of the party but rather cause the host to cringe when they show up. The point in saying that Jesus is lowly is that he is accessible. For all his resplendent glory and dazzling holiness, his supreme uniqueness and otherness, no one in human history has ever been more approachable than Jesus Christ. No prerequisites. No hoops to jump through…. The minimum bar to be enfolded into the arms of Jesus is simply: open yourself up to him. It is all he needs.
C. His yoke is easy. This Greek word CHRESTOS is rendered pleasant by some translations. It is also the Greek word for kindness. Kindness is a virtue rooted in attentiveness to another’s situation, which leads to giving appropriate care. Easy could be translated, fit for use, the root word being CHRAOMAI to use. When used to describe a yoke, CHRESTOS meant, 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 irritate the neck of the patient beast. Jesus’ yoke for us is tailor made. He knows us. He has good works he created us to accomplish from before creation. He will not allow us to be tempted or tested beyond our ability to endure.
D. His yoke is light. Being yoked with Jesus does still take us onto the tough, narrow path of self-denial so that right loyalties and attitudes prevail in our hearts, followed by right actions. But, unlike the unbeliever, whose conscience oppresses him to balance his sins by good enough deeds to justify him, or the moralistic Christian, who still believes he must “behave” or God will love him less, those yoked to Jesus experience REST. Our burden is light for at least three reasons. First, Jesus’ path is the very path of righteousness and life, the way he designed us to live. Instead of defying his law, running our feet against the grain of the universe that Jesus designed thereby getting feet full of splinters, we discover that Jesus’ path is the pleasant way of wisdom (Prove 3:17). Second, Jesus’ yoke is light because when he ascended to the Father's right hand, he poured out the Holy Spirit. He fulfilled the prophecy from Jeremiah 31:33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. The Holy Spirit is at work in our hearts changing our “wants” so that we desire his holiness. Bryan Chapel writes, “Spiritual change is more a matter of what our hearts love than of what our hands do.” (Holiness by Grace). Third, Jesus’ yoke is light because being yoked to Jesus means being yoked to his power, especially when the pull is tough. Paul understood what it meant to be yoked together with such power, saying to the Philippians, I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Taking Jesus’ yoke upon us is the path to REST—to escaping the relentless inner and outer pressure to perform. Yet, ironically, such REST actually result in higher productivity for the kingdom. Some years ago, at a midwestern county fair there was pulling contest among draft horses to see which animal could pull the heaviest sled. The champion animal pulled a sled weighted at 4500 pounds. The second-place animal dragged 4000 pounds. Then someone proposed harnessing the two big fellas together. Together they pulled 12,000 pounds, three times the pull of the second-place horse, alone. If just having another human partner could triple our kingdom output, how much greater glory can we bring to God’s name from being yoked together with Jesus!
For Further Prayerful Thought:
- This episode explains Jesus’ offer of rest to those burdened by the inner compulsion to have to perform to reach heaven, be loved, feel valuable, be accepted, and to be strong enough for others to lean on. Which of these reasons for “needing to perform” is most powerful in your life?
- If we are to REST in Jesus, why does it matter that he is meek, bearing no judicial wrath against you? Why does it matter that he is “lowly in heart?”
- A yoke is a yoke; it puts the farmer in control. So, in what sense can Jesus’ yoke be easy? In what sense is it light? Since you are yoked to Jesus’ power, how can you shift more of the weight you are carrying onto Jesus?
