What Does "My yoke is easy" Really Mean?
A Well Known Passage....
The expression “take my yoke” was a rabbinical figure of speech meaning to enroll under a teacher. To take Jesus’ yoke was to become His disciple. But Jesus assures those who would learn of and follow Him that His discipline would be kindly (easy) and His requirements attainable (light). He would not be a harsh taskmaster. After all, He was “gentle and lowly in heart” as a Teacher.
All who come and receive positional rest by believing in Christ for eternal life are then invited to take Christ’s yoke (submit to His will) so that they may have experiential rest. The first invitation must be accepted before the second. To attempt to take on oneself the yoke of service before believing in Christ is tantamount to working for one’s salvation.
Therefore Jesus issued a call to all … who are weary (hoi kopiōntes, “those tired from hard toil”) and burdened (pephortismenoi, “those loaded down”; cf. phortion, “load,” in Matt. 11:30) to come to Him. People’s weariness comes from enduring their burdens, probably the burdens of sin and its consequences. Rather, they should come and yoke themselves with Jesus. By placing themselves under His yoke and learning from Him, they may find rest for their souls from sins’ burdens. By yoking, they become true disciples of Jesus and join Him in His proclamation of divine wisdom. To learn (mathete) from Him is to be His disciple (mathētēs). People can trade their heavy, tiring burdens for His yoke and burden (phortion, “load”), which by contrast are easy and light. To serve Him is no burden, for He, in contrast with those who reject Him, is gentle (praus; cf. 5:5) and humble.
In the OT and Jewish tradition, “yoke” was a common metaphor for servitude, and hence obedience. In contrast to the rabbinic custom of speaking of the “yoke of the Torah” or the “yoke of the Kingdom,” Jesus speaks of “my yoke,” thereby claiming to be the expression of God’s will. Like “rest,” the “easy” yoke of Jesus is not an invitation to a life of ease, but of deliverance from the artificial burdens of human religion, which Matthew sees as a barrier to the true fellowship of the kingdom of God (23:4). “Learn” is an important Matthean aspect of discipleship (cf. 9:13; 28:19), added by him here to the traditional saying. Verse 29b disturbs the parallelism and contains key Matthean vocabulary (“meek” [πραΰς praus]) and is thus probably Matthew’s own addition to the traditional saying.
Like the divine Wisdom (Sir 51:23–30), and like God in addressing Moses (Exod 33:14), Jesus offers “rest,” which is not mere ease (cf. 10:17–39), but is a synonym for salvation, associated with the kingdom of God and eternal life (as in Heb 3:11, 18; 4:1, 3, 5, 10–11; Rev 14:13). The institution of the sabbath also had these overtones. Perhaps Jesus is here pictured as the true giver of sabbath rest and all that implies, setting the stage for his next pronouncements, set in the context of sabbath controversies
YOKE in the N.T.....
A Powerful Related Metaphor....
sumphutos (σύμφυτος, 4854), firstly, “congenital, innate” (from sumphuo, “to make to grow together”), then, “planted” or “grown along with, united with,” Rom. 6:5, KJV, “planted together,” RV, “united with Him,” indicating the union of the believer with Christ in experiencing spiritually “the likeness of His death.
UNITED TOGETHER = YOKED
YOKED TO THE HOLY SPIRIT through FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST
Peter also speaks of this....
Others have seen this fact...
Jesus’ requirements are no less stringent than those of the Jewish teachers, but they can be accomplished more readily because of the strength Christ provides through the Holy Spirit.