Finally, some words of comfort again! This is one of my favorite passages in all scripture. I cling to it, I hang on it, stand it. It is a mantra for me. It is what I breathe in and out in times of stress, busy-ness, and noise. However, rarely do I ever read it in its greater context. Everything is held in balance, and it is in fact in that balance that we find rest. It is in the tension of a life of fierce discipline and determination pulling us in one direction, and a life of forgiveness and freedom pulling us in another direction where we stand at rest.
We, as followers of Jesus, have a job to do, we have a call; but that work earns us nothing. What we try to earn from it has already been given to us. We step into the work of God not to earn God’s favor, but because we already have God’s favor; not as a debt owed, but as natural living out of that identity.
Jesus is pretty clear that we have work to do. He doesn’t say, “take off whatever yoke you have and come rest in me”. He says, “take my yoke upon you”. A yoke is a tool for a beast of burden [Cue Rolling Stones]. To put on a yoke is to work. So to take Jesus’ yoke is to take on work. Yet with Jesus’ yolk, we find rest. It’s an interesting contrast. There is a way in which up until this point work and rest are opposed to one another: “Six days you shall labor and do all work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work… For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day” (Exodus 20:8-11, NRSV). For six days God worked, and on the seventh God rested.
Jesus tells us to take on a tool of burden and with that tool of burden he will give us rest. It seems that this would be counter-intuitive. How is it possible to wear a yoke and have rest at the same time?
I would submit that Jesus is telling us, as I believe he does throughout the Gospels, that there is nothing we can do to earn God’s favor. We already have it. Therefore the yolk we should stop carrying is the yoke of trying to earn God’s favor, acceptance, love, and grace. Stop trying to earn it through our holiness codes, our piety, our mighty acts of service, our devotion to spiritual disciplines. You can’t earn something you already have, so take that yoke off. It’s too heavy and we can’t carry it.
Jesus tells us to take his yoke on. The yoke of God’s favor, freely given to us, but still a yoke, which means work. Jesus’ yoke is one that fits and in its fitting we find rest. To be given the favor of God is a great gift of rest, because the work of that yoke is bringing God’s favor to the world. The favor of God was never something meant for us to keep hidden. The rest comes when the work we do is helping people see how beautiful they are, not how “sinful” they are. So take the yoke of God’s favor to the world, take it out into the fields, for the harvest is plentiful.
Also, this…
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.
I won’t lay anything heavy
or ill-fitting on you.
Keep company with me and
you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.
-matthew 11:28-30 (The Message)
Moving Through Matthew 