Image: “Sophie asleep in the bike trailer” by Peter Hunter via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30, WEB)

This passage never fails to hit me squarely in the chest.

Some of that is because, like so many people in our hustle-and-bustle world, I’m tired a lot. It’s powerful, this idea that Jesus wants me to rest. Such a precious gift, though I squander it so often.

The more important part, for my walk of faith, has been the idea that Jesus’s “yoke”—his teachings / way / expectations—are not meant to be burdensome.

Of course there are plenty of texts, including many in Matthew, that show some tension with that idea. It’s easy for me to fixate on them, to set myself up for frustration by focusing on what I find hard about living with integrity.

But Jesus is pretty consistent in his claims that the Way is simple, as in straightforward. It’s easy to summarize and understand (more on that soon), even if it’s hard to live up to.

It’s supposed to be liberating, this yoke, this burden. And if that weren’t a paradox, well, I guess it would be harder for me to trust.

It doesn’t make sense until we try to live it. And even then, only in glimpses.

P.S. When I was a kid I heard “yolk” instead of “yoke” and was just all kinds of both confused and intrigued. To this day I think of Jesus cracking an egg on my head when I hear this passage, and somehow that doesn’t sound bad.

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Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

World English Bible (Public Domain)

16 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces, who call to their companions 17 and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you didn’t dance. We mourned for you, and you didn’t lament.’ 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”

25 At that time, Jesus answered, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants. 26 Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight. 27 All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him.

28 “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

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Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith by Rob Bell

Reading the chapter “Yoke” in this book was my first encounter with an explication of this text and has really stuck with me.

Brother Roger of Taize: Essential Writings by Brother Roger

I’m going to be recommending this book a lot, I think. It’s one I really hope everyone can get a chance to dig into. What Brother Roger calls over and over again the “humble trust” that is at the core of gospel faith derives from passages like this.

 

Card with Jesus’ words about burdens and rest

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