Matthew 11:28-30 (Part 2)
As I hiked the Jesus Trail, there were moments that I took off my backpack to take off the heavy load I was carrying. I had water stored in my backpack, and water weighs more than you think. When we are carrying something, we can have a moment of relief when we take off the extra weight.
We see in verse 29 where Jesus gives us the second step in the finding rest process. Which is to Take my Yoke. What is a yoke? Is Jesus wanting us to make some eggs or something. Well, there are two different meanings throughout scripture. The Hebrew referred to it is more of a literal meaning of the yoke. It is a wooden frame for a pair or team of animals to pull a heavy load. Two animals are pulling this weight together and sharing the load to make it easier to pull. In Greek, it is used as a metaphor for hardship or burden. Jesus is giving us a choice here. The first step was to come/turn to him (look at the previous post). “Okay, I’m here!” Now he is saying to take his Yoke. My first thought was, “take your what? Your Yoke? I came here to take off the heavy load, not to add on extra weight.” Your mind automatically goes into the mental image of a yoke, and at that time people have seen a yoke and what it is for. It is used to carry a heavy load. They wanted to get rid of the burden.
Jesus, how about this. Instead of giving me your load, how about I give you my extra weight? That way, I can finally get some rest. It is easy to just go to Jesus and give him our plans, isn’t it? We make our plans and tell Jesus to just sign off on it. That is not the case with Jesus. He calls us to take His Yoke. It is more than simply taking something. It is us putting our complete trust in Jesus, and His plans for us.
Resource
Scofield, C. I., English, E. S., Mason, C. E., Babb, W. S., & Karleen, P. S. (1984). Oxford NIV Scofield Study Bible: New International Version: New Scofield Study System with Introductions, Annotations, and Subject Chain References. Oxford University Press.
