The crowd were the sheep who had gone astray and turned each one to his own way (see Isaiah 53:6). These troubled sheep felt isolated from one another and abandoned by their shepherds. They felt the weight of a yoke that neither they nor their fathers had been able to bear (see Acts 15:10). Jesus was the one whose heart with moved with pity for them. As such, his response was not to drive the sheep harder and demand more. He only resorted to the whip with those who were supposed to be shepherds but who were in fact only caring for themselves. Instead, as the Good Shepherd, he desired to give his sheep freedom and rest.
Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
The LORD laid upon Jesus the yoke of our iniquity. On our own we collapsed under this yoke but could not escape from it. Only Jesus himself could bear the full weight of our sins as he carried his cross. Only Jesus could offer the full obedience to the Father that was meant to be given by every human being. He carried all of this before us and for us so that we could be delivered from the old yoke of slavery.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
Jesus did not only take our yoke from us on our behalf. He desired that we share his own yoke with him. He removed the sin that weighed us down by the part of the yoke that was uniquely his to bear. But yoked together with him we were meant to move in unison in obedience to the will of the Father. The command to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect would otherwise have been a condemnation of what for man is impossible. But yoked together with Jesus we can share the same strength that fills him, the power of his Spirit, that allows us to live lives pleasing to the Father.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.
The yoke of Jesus does not appear easy nor does his burden seem to be light when viewed at a distance. But when he himself is at work within us it can genuinely be so. It is him "who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (see Philippians 2:13). It precisely when we begin rely on the gifts and the fruits of the Holy Spirit that we begin to experience a truth known well to the saints. They knew that life in the world and of the world appeared to be easy and free but was actually slavery and sorrow. They knew that life in the Kingdom had the superficial appearance of sacrifice and of dying to self. But they knew that true life and freedom where just beneath the surface.
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery (see Galatians 5:1).
What do we do when we feel troubled and abandoned? Do we employ the empty strategies of the world to help ourselves with a quick fix? Or do we come to Jesus and seek more and more to come under his yoke? Only the later option is one that can bring us true peace. Only Jesus will bring us at last to the green pastures where true rest is found.
It is by sharing in the yoke of Jesus that we can begin to experience the promise given by Isaiah:
He gives strength to the fainting;
for the weak he makes vigor abound.
Though young men faint and grow weary,
and youths stagger and fall,
They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength,
they will soar as with eagles’ wings;
They will run and not grow weary,
walk and not grow faint.
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