A Devotion from John Broadus

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, 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 11:28–30

We may learn from these words the character of the lessons, as well as of the teacher.16 It is the knowledge of himself that Jesus will give, and as he is gentle and humble, so those who go to learn from him will be taught lessons of gentleness, lessons of humility. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me”; you need not fear to make me your teacher, “for I am gentle and humble in heart and you shall find rest for your souls.” He promises to free them from their grievous toils, to relieve them of their heavy burdens, to give them rest.

To appreciate fully the expressiveness of this figure, you must imagine yourself bearing a heavy burden, a weight you can hardly sustain, and after bearing it till you are almost crushed to the ground, you throw it off and rest. There are few things so delightful as this rest to one who has been heavily burdened. And suppose the burden is clinging to you, bound with cords you cannot sever, though you are bowed down under the load and vainly striving to throw it off. Then one offers, if you go to him, to loose the bonds and take away the burden and let you rest—how sweet would be the thought! How quickly, how joyfully, how thankfully, you would run to him!

It is impossible that people should be without subjection to some higher power; by our very nature we look up to some being that is above us. All who are not subject to God are the subjects of Satan, and those who wish to be delivered from the dominion of the Evil One must find such deliverance in having God himself for their King, as he intended they should when he made them. Accordingly, when the Savior offers to give rest, he bids them take his yoke upon them and learn from him. And then he concludes the invitation by encouraging them to believe that this exchange will be good and pleasant; they labor under the galling yoke of Satan and are burdened with the grievous weight of sin, but his yoke is easy. His burden is light.