When Jesus describes His yoke as easy in Matthew 11:28, it raises the question: What’s at the heart of His pronouncement?
As we walk through life, we encounter many episodes which aren’t easy and burdens which aren’t ‘light.’ Numerous events trigger despair, anger, disappointment in our lives. Sometimes, those events out-number the good events of our lives.
Yet, when we read Matthew 11:28-30, we don’t get a sense of His declaration being dependent upon life’s circumstances. Instead, it carries the promise of lifting us above those circumstances—however dire and horrible they may be.
An ‘easy yoke’ even while those circumstances continue to make a mess of our lives? How does that work exactly?
The answer lies first in His offer of salvation. There are two invitations mentioned in these verses: “Come to Me” and “Take My yoke upon you.”
Everyone desires the opportunity to live forever. The reason is simple: God has set eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11). That means we intuitively sense there is another life beyond this life, and He has programmed our hearts to desire that eternal life.
That’s why mankind has devised over 4,000 religions according to one study. A quick perusal of those religions establishes that they can’t all be right. In fact, only one can be right. It’s illogical that there would be, say, 17 different ways to obtain eternal life. Out of the 4,000, which 17 would be the correct 17? The 17 largest religions? The 17 religions all beginning with the letter ‘W?’
Man doesn’t have the capability of bestowing eternal life upon himself. If he could do that, why not just keep himself from dying in the first place? Therefore, it takes someone with higher authority and power to prevail against death and provide eternal life for mere humans, who seem expert at dishing out death, but not so good in extending life.
And that someone is only one. It’s absurd to think there are multiple gods out there who are all capable of providing eternal life for humankind. Why would there need to be, say, 4000 gods who could all do that? Where do they all live? Shouldn’t they each have a recruiting service in order to entice us? Shouldn’t they purchase Super Bowl ads in order to attract people?
The true God puts it succinctly: “You shall have no other god before me.” (Exodus 20:3)
Jesus says He is the One: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father but through me.” (John 14:6) The number of gods who have literally walked the face of the earth for decades equals one. Jesus.
We should show compassion on those who have put other gods before the true God. For several reasons, choosing another god has put them on the path of the ‘difficult yoke.’
First, the god they’ve chosen has no desire to have a relationship with them. He (or she, or it) doesn’t care if they die or live. He also doesn’t care if they have a glorious eternal life or an eternal life of horrific damnation.
For example, there’s a religion in which you could be reincarnated as a cockroach. But you would never know you became a cockroach until after you died. At that point it would be too late to say, “I kind of goofed up.”
I’ve never been one, but I suspect a cockroach’s life is one of the ‘difficult yoke.’ Also, how do you become a good cockroach so you can reach a higher form in your next life? Perhaps hoping to change from a cockroach to a Brussel sprout? Then, how do you become a good Brussel sprout in order to keep climbing the ladder back to personhood.
Instead, wouldn’t it be wiser to put your faith in the true God? How about trusting in the God who literally walked the earth, healing and teaching people for three years? He then went to the cross in order that our sins could be forgiven, and we could enjoy our eternal life in His world.
The ‘difficult yoke’ is following a god who can turn you into a cockroach at his whim. The ‘easy yoke’ is following the God who said, “Come to me. I will give you rest.”