The Promised Rest

A very comforting verse, a call to rest in Christ. With an invitation found only in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus, who alone reveals the Father and the divine plan of redemption, calls to us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Jesus had called Peter and Andrew with a similar expression (4:19), but there it was “Come after me,” while here it is “Come to me,” a tender call to intimacy with him for all those who are weary and burdened. “Weary” evokes the image of persons exhausted from their work or journey, while “burdened” indicates persons weighted down with heavy burdens. They are like the crowds whom Jesus said earlier are helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36).

In the light of the following statements, the scribes and Pharisees seem once again to be the target of Jesus’ criticism. Jesus will later condemn outright the Jewish leaders for the burden that their legalistic traditions has put on the people, so this is an invitation to the crowds to become his disciples and find a rest in him that cannot be found in the legal casuistry of the Pharisees.

He extends the invitation by saying, “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.” The “yoke” was the wooden frame joining two animals (usually oxen) for pulling heavy loads; this image was used metaphorically to describe one individual’s subjection to another. In another sense, the yoke is a common metaphor in Bible for the law.

In addition, the yoke is also a familiar metaphor in the Old Testament to describe Israel’s subjection to foreign oppression: “With a yoke on our necks we are hard driven; we are weary, we are given no rest” (Lam. 5:5). Israel’s return from the Egyptian captivity is described as release from the heavy yoke of servitude: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high” (Lev. 26:13; cf. Ex. 6:6–8). And the prophets promised a time when God would break off the yoke of foreign oppression and give rest to the people of Israel when they repented and were restored to the land ( Isa. 14:25; Jer. 2:20; 5:5; 30:8; Ezek. 34:27).

Jesus’ invitation is in stark contrast to the religious burden of Pharaisism or the militaristic burden of foreign oppressors. His yoke, a metaphor for discipleship to him,

promises rest from the weariness and burden of religious regulation and human oppression, because it is none other than commitment to him. His disciples learn directly from him. Jesus offers rest in himself for their souls through his authoritative understanding of God’s truth. His yoke will bring true learning, which takes us back to the Sermon on the Mount, where he declares that has come to fulfill the Law. To learn from Jesus is to learn from his revelation of what the Law truly intends.

The yoke of discipleship brings rest because Jesus is “gentle and humble in heart” (11:29). Jesus exemplifies the very characteristics his disciples will display as members of the kingdom of heaven—gentleness (5:5) and humility (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5). He has castigated the scribes and the Pharisees for their hypocritical self-righteousness (5:20; 6:1–18) and will condemn them for their prideful religious regalia, places of privilege, and elitist titles (23:5–7). But Jesus does not need to strut his authority. He has come gently, preaching and teaching the good news of the arrival of the kingdom of heaven, and in humble human form he has brought healing to sin-sick humanity. This is the true eschatological rest for which Israel has long hoped, “a realization of a deep existential peace, a shalom, or sense of ultimate well-being with regard to one’s relationship to God and his commandments.” Jesus’ teaching is the true fulfillment of the Law, and those who come to him will enter into a discipleship that produces rest for the soul (Jer. 6:16).

While discipleship to Jesus brings relief from the burden of Pharisaic regulations, it is not lawlessness. He goes on to say, “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” These two clauses are in synonymous parallelism to emphasize Jesus’ way of discipleship. His discipleship is an easy or serviceable yoke because his teaching equips us most effectively to live out God’s will in the way life was designed to be lived. Furthermore, his discipleship is not the oppressive burden of Pharisaic legalism (23:4) but instead turns the load of life into one that is manageable (cf. Gal. 6:5). Jesus does not release his disciples from burdens, just as he did not escape the burdens of human life in his Incarnation. Illness and calamity and tragedy remain a part of this fallen world until the final renewal, but for those in the kingdom of heaven there is a promise of Jesus’ sustaining help as we carry his yoke of discipleship.

In fact, in Jesus’ interpretation of the Law the challenge of following him may be seen as even more demanding than the Pharisees, because he calls us to fulfill the Law from the obedience of the heart, not simply through external obedience (5:21–47), and he calls his disciples to be perfect, as their heavenly Father is perfect (5:48). But Jesus’ demands are still a yoke that is easy to bear and a burden that is light to carry, because in the coming of the kingdom and the inauguration of the new covenant, his Spirit provides the same strength to carry the load that Jesus himself relied upon to carry his own load of redemptive service to humanity.

However, in the quest to learn from Jesus how to live God’s truth, it is critical to remember that Jesus’ disciples can also turn his yoke into an unbearable burden unless we consciously recognize that discipleship to Jesus is not essentially a religious obligation. Rather, ours is an intimate relationship with the One who calls, “Come to me” and “learn from me.” As complicated as life may become, discipleship is at heart simply walking with Jesus in the real world and having him teach us moment by moment how to live life his way.