Grace - Why Is Jesus' Yoke Easy?

Hi Everyone!

"All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.  Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, 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 11:27-30

So, I heard this explained basically three ways:

1.  We take a yoke and a burden upon ourselves and although it sounds nice in this passage, the Christian life, in reality, is very difficult, with lots of burdensome experiences, sacrifices, and pressure to perfect ourselves in holiness through OUR self-discipline.  I'm sure this is not the Gospel of Grace that Paul preached, so, quite frankly, let's move on to the next traditional explanation of this passage.

2.  To understand this passage, we've often been brought into the agrarian context of Jesus' world with the illustration of two oxen.  For centuries, and even continuing now into contemporary days, farmers have known how to best use oxen.  No farmer will place a heavy yoke and demand intensive plowing from a young, immature ox.  Instead, the heavy yoke and strength to plow fall upon a mature, experienced ox, and the younger ox's load is considerably less as the older ox pulls the weight and does all the work.  This is how I have always taught the meaning of the above passage in Matthew, and it sounds great, but I see now how it falls so short of Jesus' intention and message.

3.  Let's look at the above passage again, and I will also bring in some other scripture verses:

"…no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him."  Matthew 11:27

"Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner."  John 5:19

"For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God."  Romans 8:14

"And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit…He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read…The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me…Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor…He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives.…" Luke 4:14-18

Jesus' intent in Matthew 11:27 was to show us the Father!  As a result of this, Jesus not only shows us the Father, but He shows us His own relationship with the Father, and therefore the relationship we ourselves should have with the Father.

In Jesus' illustration in Matthew 11, we have mistakenly thought that Jesus was the "big ox" and we are the "little ox".  But look at what the passage actually says:

            "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Do you see it?  Jesus is NOT the "big ox".  His Father is the Big Ox, and Jesus' experience of being led by the Father in everything means that Jesus' yoke is easy.  Jesus is the "little ox" and He wants us to be at ease just as He was while the Father did all the work!

I wanted to share this revelation with you because I feel that so much pressure has been put upon people.  There is a great load of expectation on our shoulders to get our act together, to sacrifice, to self-discipline, to sin less, do better, and to work on our salvation and holiness.  I see clearly now that religion has placed Man on center stage and completely ignored the revelation of Jesus Christ and the Father.  While we will all agree that life is not always easy, this is not the same as the Christian life.  Why is the Christian life to be easy?  Because we are to experience the life that Jesus Christ secured for us, primarily, the experience of the Father working in and through us.  What are we to do?  Frankly, we need to rest, also known as to abide.

"The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works."  John 14:10

I pray that you will understand the impact of Jesus' revelation of His relationship with the Father.  Clearly, we are meant to live in the same way.  If we will abide and rest in a trustworthy Father, all the spiritual growth demanded of us by religion will be not only met, but be exceeded by Holy Spirit in us.  Holy Spirit in us will produce not only good works, but most importantly, love!

Keep your eyes on Jesus; put Him on center stage—watch what resting in the Father's rest will actually do.

"For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His."  Hebrews 4:10

May the easy yoke of Jesus lead and guide you!

(By the way, the word "easy" is the Greek word "chr­ēstos", which comes from the "chraomai", meaning:  to furnish what is needed.  Jesus' yoke furnishes and supplies what we need!)

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy