“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 11:28-30 NASB
Since tomorrow is Shabbat and you will have time to consider an extended investigation of this verse, I hope you won’t mind that this is really long. So take you time and digest what took about 10 years to write.
“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 11:28-30 NASB
Weary/rest/yoke/light – Over the course of the last ten years, I have examined various words in these declarations from Yeshua. Over that same period, I have struggled to experience what he is saying. My thoughts about these words ten years ago are not the same as they are today, perhaps because the weariness of the soul has intensified and the need for rest has become a desperate search. I hear him say that his yoke is easy and his burden light, but in the last decade I have often felt more weight than ever. My experience is a world of half-empty glasses, not half-full ones. I am amused when Heschel says that he is an optimist in spite of his better judgment. But my chuckle lasts only a moment as the crush of my world presses on me. Perhaps I need to reconsider what I have written about these words in order to recover hope.
It’s probably best to look at this material in the order that the words appear in the Bible rather than in published chronological order. So we will start with Matthew 11:28 and proceed to 11:29, paying attention to specific words. Often, more than one study appears for a particular word. This is the result of re-reading the text over the course of a decade. In addition, many of these studies needed modification since I have grown in my understanding and appreciation over the last decade. I hope you will still find them useful. There are a few here that are new. I realized that some of these words were never included before. It’s time to do that. So, let’s begin.
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 NASB
Weary – Worn out! More than just the end of the day, dragging in from the job. This word (from kopiao) means to be so burdened with labor that you are exhausted. It should remind us of Isaiah 40:31 where the Hebrew word, yaga, describes working against such huge obstacles that both body and soul are used up.
Our culture is the W2 culture – worry and weary. They seem to go together. Life grinds you down. The structures of this world are designed (by bigger powers) to turn our lives into useless powder. Life without God is simply overwhelming at every level. Jesus knew this, so he invited all those who were experiencing life’s dregs to come to Him. The biggest problem we face is the denial of our weariness. We think we must carry on. So we don’t end up at Jesus’ feet because we have adopted the philosophy of self-sufficiency. Jesus speaks to those who know that they are W2 people.
The “weary” theme is an image from the Tanakh. Isaiah tells us that there is a solution. The ones who will not be weary are the ones who “wait on the Lord.” Yeshua tells us exactly what “waiting on the Lord” means. “Come to me.” The answer to weariness is not a vacation. It is not hiring more employees. It is not cutting back. Those are all external “action” fixes for an internal “spiritual” disease. The answer to weariness is heart conversation with the Master.
There is only one place where I am safe from my own W2 issues. It is the place on my knees, talking and listening. No matter what the grind, God’s arms pull me toward Him. My Father knows my deepest struggles. He listens so carefully. He coaches me toward clarity. He opens my heart to His comfort. Isaiah had it right: I come away refreshed.
When I let the W2 life push me away from my kneeling time, my W2 life gets harder to handle. God never intended this. He wants my constant conscious dependence. He is ready to lift my burdens. But I need to let them go. Weariness is a choice too.
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28
Heavy laden – Heavy laden – What’s the real difference between weary and heavy laden? Why use two words when one would probably describe our exhaustion? The verb for “weary” (sometimes translated “labor”) is kopiao, a word that describes toil. We are reminded of the Genesis 3 account where Adam’s punishment is to toil all his days. Since the Fall, each one of us must work out our existence in a world that does not cooperate. We know sorrow and grief, frustration and disappointment. We are weary not because we have too much to do but because we are alive in a world that is broken.
“Heavy laden” is one of the attributes of this broken world. The Greek verb, phortizo, describes shipping freight. We become the cargo holds of life, loaded down with obligations, expectations, responsibilities, requirements and duties. But because we are the crossroads of yetzer ha’ra and yetzer ha’tov, we are also the cargo holds for compulsions and addictions. Weight! Lots of it! Too much for anyone to bear. This is more than toil, the daily activity of trying to stay afloat in life. This is inner turmoil that won’t go away. What’s in that cargo hold of life is often the most difficult to unpack and certainly the most difficult to cast overboard. At times we would rather be Jonah, dying instead of obeying.
Anyone who has ever tried to lighten the load by discarding what is stored below decks knows how torturous the process really is. It is as if we are giving up our very souls. Each box we throw away seems to take a piece of us with it until, at last, we feel as if there is nothing left of us. But it’s precisely these boxes in the cargo hold that have kept us so burdened. We might have a clearer view of this tragedy if we correctly labeled the boxes: guilt, shame, humiliation, remorse, dishonor, scandal and, above all, secrets. When we realize what these boxes contain, we should be joyful to throw them into the sea, but somehow we can’t. Somehow they have become us, protecting us from projected rejection. That’s why we need the Messiah’s offer.
“Come to me,” he says, “and I will remove this terrifying cargo. All we know is that we are crushed by the tasks and squeezed by the cargo. We don’t know how to save ourselves from ourselves. In fact, we can’t. But we can come to him, believing that his offer is genuine and true. Rest is real—if we know who offers it.
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28
Will give rest – Yeshua gives rest like no other. Why? Because he knows exactly how you were designed and what purpose you are to serve. No one, not even you, knows more precisely what you need to be satisfied. But wait! This kind of rest isn’t swinging in a hammock. It’s not the cessation of activity. It is work that refreshes. You see, God’s plan has always been that Man should work in ways that refresh. That’s the kind of rest Yeshua offers.
Let’s take a closer look.
Yeshua elaborates the Father’s perfect plan for Man. In that plan, the Potter designed each of us for a particular use. We fulfill our essential purpose only when we are used as we were designed. Yes, you can carry water in a hat, but a hat was designed for something else. Here’s a test of your personal design. Are you refreshed in your work? Are you perfectly comfortable with your service and purpose, discovering that it energizes you? Or are you exhausted from trying to carry water in a hat?
The Greek here actually helps us see the nuance. Anapauso comes from ana (again) and pauo (to rest, cease). It means “Relax!” That’s not the same as “Stop!” The idea is to find that place of comfortable purpose where activity satisfies. When Yeshua offers us rest, he does not mean that we quit doing things. He means that he, and only he, can introduce us to becoming who we are. We rest because we are doing exactly what we were meant to do. It is the second wind in our effort, when we are suddenly in the groove and things just come easily.
There is a first rest. God made all that there is – and rested. He ceased His creative activities in that phase of existence. The Sabbath honors God’s first rest because the Sabbath honors God’s sovereign creative power. But there is a second rest – a rest that comes from fulfilling the purpose of creation. God rested when He completed all that was necessary for His purposes to be fulfilled. Now Yeshua reminds us of the second rest where our activity fulfills God’s purposes, glorifying Him and satisfying us.
Maybe that’s why the author of Hebrews tells us to work in order to enter into that rest. Maybe that’s why Yeshua tells us to come (an action) to him in order to find that rest. We are weary of the road. We have tried so long to find the real reason for our lives – and we have failed. We are not capable of discovering that reason without the hand of the Potter shaping us for His use. We are heavy laden. We carry a load of mistakes, guilt, shattered dreams, disappointments and obligations. Most of them are the direct or indirect result of not being used for the Potter’s purposes. We have tried again and again to carry water in hats, but the cistern is not full. We know exactly how much emptiness remains in our lives, and we know that unless we find the use that we are meant to fulfill, the emptiness will never leave us.
“Come to Me.” Yeshua promises to give us exactly the usefulness that we are missing – the rest of our lives.
“Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:29
Yoke – We think that it is paradoxical that God’s view of freedom is always in the context of being bound to Him. The image of the yoke reinforces our perplexity. How can we be really free when we are strapped into a collar that controls our direction?
This paradox is only the result of perspective confusion. It only seems paradoxical because we don’t really understand freedom. We do not make allowances for our vulnerabilities. We forget that we are weak. But God doesn’t. God is the most realistic person in the universe. He never overlooks the facts in the matter. So, when He sees how fragile and distracted we are, He knows that the only way to really make us free is to get us linked up with someone who knows what freedom is. Freedom is not my ability to make any decision I want to. That isn’t freedom. That’s insanity. If I can make any choice I want to, then I will certainly make choices that will ensure my death. What kind of freedom is that?! God is not interested in promoting my ability to make choices that will destroy me. He cares about me too much to just let me ruin myself. God’s view of freedom is very different than mine. I think freedom is about uninhibited options. God knows that freedom is about alignment with purpose.
What is the purpose of a yoke (zugos in Greek)? A yoke causes two animals to rely on each other. A yoke joins two animals into a single effort. A yoke prevents one animal from falling. A yoke guides both animals in the same direction. But most of all, a yoke brings purpose. Freedom is absolutely useless without purpose. Yokes are instruments of intention.
God knows that freedom is purposeful. Freedom is not liberty to do whatever I wish. Freedom has direction and in God’s world, the direction of freedom is toward Him. Yeshua invites you and me to bind ourselves to him so that the freedom we desire can be achieved. Freedom is knowing God’s pleasure in the performance of what I was born to be. A yoke is simply God’s freedom tool, designed to let me feel His pleasure.
“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me“ Matthew 11:29
Yoke – How can we enter into the second rest that Yeshua promises? Not by sitting under a tree! Yeshua says that rest comes when we are bound to Him. Just think about that picture for a minute. Most of us would never consider being yoked to someone else as a means of finding rest. The picture looks more like pulling in tandem. That’s the picture of the Greek word, zugos – something that binds together. It still sounds like work, doesn’t it? Of course, now we know that Yeshua’s point of view is Hebraic. Rest is not ceasing from activity. It is relaxing under restraint. Being bound to Yeshua means that he does exactly what his name implies. He rescues us in the middle of our burdens. That’s the Hebraic view of yasha, remember? Rescue comes to me where I am. It’s not an escape valve. It’s not an “Easy Button.” It’s sharing the load.
There are two great worldviews when it comes to responsibilities and obligations. The first is the world of the individual. I am responsible for my own destiny. I carry the load. I shoulder my own consequences. I make choices based on what’s good for me. This view dominates the world system. In one form or another, it has been around since the day after Adam and Eve left the garden.
The second great worldview is God’s perspective. This worldview is shared responsibility and shared obligation. I am who I am because I belong to a community. That community may be called the family of God, the elect, the house of Israel or the bride of Christ. The names are interchangeable, but the concept remains the same. I am intimately and inextricably linked to all my brothers and sisters in the family. I do not stand alone. What happens to me, happens to you and vise versa. Community comes before individuality. I become who I am in relationship with others.
Yeshua invites me to join him in this community of the rescued. The yoke that I take is bound to him – and bound to every other sibling in the kingdom of heaven. The rest that I discover is shared life, not isolated individualism. My second wind comes when I am bound to others. So, here’s a hint. Whenever I am inclined to pursue those activities that separate me from community, I am moving away from rest. I will never find my deepest sense of purpose and my greatest enjoyment in work in isolation because I was designed to be in relationship with God and with others. When I take the yoke that Yeshua offers, he puts me into community with all other burden bearers who belong to him. That’s when I am able to discover what I was made to do because my doing it will be of benefit to all those other people who lift me up.
There is no rest without restraint. Rest is not achieving the dream of independence. It is exactly the opposite: dependent on the Messiah and connected to family.
As every Hebrew reader knows, “yoke” is an expression of a rabbi’s way of living. In other words, it is the summary of all that a rabbi teaches about how to apply Torah today. To take the yoke of Yeshua is to accept what he teaches about how to live. And what he teaches is based in community, in service, in the expression of the divine will, in compassion, in forgiveness and in responsibility. There is no rest without this yoke. Rest is the by-product of living life according to his directions.
“Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.” Mathew 11:29 NASB
Yoke – Yeshua quotes Jeremiah 6:16 in this famous passage. The context of the Jeremiah citation should help us understand the key words here. Those words are “rest” and “yoke.” But when you read the passage in Jeremiah, there isn’t any mention of a yoke at all. So why should we be looking for a Tanakh context to Yeshua’s choice of the word ‘ol (Hebrew for “yoke”)? The answer is found in the cultural ethos of the audience.
When we think of the yoke of Yeshua, what do we have in mind? Most Christians think first and foremost about the “law of love.” We imagine that this yoke is the exhortation to live a morally upright life, to encourage good behavior and acts of grace. But it is highly unlikely that anyone in the audience that day would have had these thoughts. Why? Because the connection of Jeremiah and “yoke” could only have meant one thing – Torah!
Look at the context of Jeremiah. First notice that it is YHVH who speaks. He says, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths; where the good way is, and walk in it.” What are the ancient paths? What is the good way? YHVH can only mean His instructions found in Torah. After we have found the ancient paths and walked in them, then “you will find rest for your souls.” And what of the “yoke”? The Mishnah and the Midrashim call the Shema kabbalath ‘ol malkhuth shamayim, “taking on oneself the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven.” Every Jew who said the Shema three times daily would have known what yoke Yeshua spoke about. It was the same yoke YHVH gave His people, the same yoke YHVH encouraged His people to renew in the prophecy of Jeremiah, the same yoke that governed the life of Yeshua. The only difference, and it is a very big difference, is that Yeshua calls this his yoke. No one except YHVH ever made that claim. Now this man, the Messiah, is claiming that YHVH’s yoke is the same as his yoke. What does this mean? There never was and never will be any greater instruction for life than Torah. Even the Messiah endorsed it.
The crowd understood. This was not a “new” commandment. This was a prophetic call that echoed Jeremiah. Come back to the ancient paths. Walk in the ancient ways. Take the yoke of the Kingdom upon yourself. Follow Yeshua in learned obedience. And discover that this burden brings rest.
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls” Matthew 11:29 NASB
Yoke – Yesterday we connected Paul’s idea of “bond” with Yeshua’s statement about “yoke.” “Freedom comes in chains,” we said. When Yeshua invites us to take his yoke, he is not offering liberty. He is offering glorious constraint; constraint that instructs us in a way of life delivered from toxic anxiety and confusion. But the Greek word zygos has another meaning that heightens his invitation. Zygos also means “scales.” It is found in Revelation 6:5 and in Leviticus 26:26 (LXX). The horseman of judgment comes with scales in his hand. He will weigh the deeds of men. By what standard? The rabbis and Yeshua tell us that the standard for these scales is the “yoke” of the law (Torah), an excellent wordplay in Greek!
Do you suppose that the translator of Yeshua’s words in Matthew’s Greek had this wordplay in mind? When you hear, “Take my yoke upon you,” do you also hear, “Take my scales upon you”? Do you connect “yoke” and “law”? It would be hard to read the Greek translation of Yeshua’s Hebrew without making this connection.
Far too often we read this verse without its connection to Jeremiah or its nuances in Greek. We read the verse with the eyes of Plato and Aristotle. We think Yeshua is offering assistance (forgiveness and restoration) without obligation, at least without obligation to others. We want rest, not duty. So we convert zygos into something akin to “removing all my burdens.” We look for Platonic peace, that is, freedom from everyone else. But zygos as “scales” can never provide such fictitious relief. All of Torah is about obligation – to God and to others. The “Law” is a way of living in the world, among those who occupy the same place and time. When we take on Yeshua’s zygos, we take on the standard which the third horseman brings. There is no rest without scales just as there is no peace without chains.
Perhaps this is enough for today. Perhaps we have already been convicted of our ungodly desire to be “free” of all those burdens of others. Perhaps the horseman finds us wanting.
Submit your neck to her yoke, that your mind may accept her teaching. For she is close to those who seek her, and the one who is in earnest finds her. Sirach 51:26
Yoke – On a day when the ancient world celebrated the renewal and return of the fertility gods, a day that Christianity has adopted into its own calendar for reasons buried in church history, it might do us some good to look at a verse not found in our usual Bibles but nevertheless, apparently on the mind of Yeshua. The parallel is Matthew 11:29. Of course, we know that that last part of this teaching from Yeshua cites a passage from the prophet Jeremiah. But we might not realize that the first part of this statement parallels passages in Proverbs and in Sirach (sometimes called Ecclesiasticus). Sirach is part of the wisdom literature of the 2nd Century BC. It was common knowledge in Yeshua’s world.
Yeshua’s adaptation of the material in Sirach demonstrates that he was familiar with the wisdom literature of the rabbis. But that isn’t the most important point about this parallel and the parallel with Proverbs. The crucial point is the difference Yeshua introduces. In both Sirach and Proverbs, Wisdom is personified, calling for men to come to “her” to receive instruction in living and the blessings of a righteous life. In both books, the narrator acts as the intermediary between Wisdom and the reader. But Yeshua changes all that. He is not the go-between. He is Wisdom itself. In other words, Yeshua does not cast himself as the prophet or teacher pointing toward Wisdom (the divine instruction). He casts Himself in the role of Wisdom, and thereby claims a unique status. No one in his audience could have missed the change or the claim. Even if the audience didn’t specifically recall the Sirach passage, everyone would have known the text of Proverbs. Yeshua’s proclamation was unmistakable. No rabbi would ever make such a claim, at least no rabbi who did not believe that he was the fully authorized representative of God. The first point Yeshua makes is that he is the authority on Wisdom and that he is the only intermediary between God and men. Now that we see how powerful this verse really is, we also need to ask why Yeshua employed the imagery of the yoke.
On the surface, the Hebrew concept of a yoke is almost always negative. Jews viewed yokes as a symbol of oppression. They had a long history of yoked captivity and tyranny. To suggest that people willingly take a yoke upon themselves would be inconceivable, except in one instance. The rabbis taught that voluntarily accepting the yoke of Torah was an experience of freedom, not of slavery and servitude. This positive use of ‘ol (Hebrew “yoke”) is found in the Ethics of the Fathers: “Rabbi Nechunya ben Hakanah said: Whoever takes upon himself the yoke of Torah, from him will be taken away the yoke of government and the yoke of worldly care; but whoever throws off the yoke of Torah, upon him will be laid the yoke of government and the yoke of worldly care” (Pirkei Avot 3:6).
Add this background to our familiarity with the Matthew text. Yeshua declares His divinely given authority with regard to instructions for living. He is the only mediator of truth. Then He tells us to willingly accept his yoke, the yoke of his halacha. What is that yoke? The only positive reference found in His own cultural setting claims that the yoke is Torah. Yeshua builds on the popular and familiar teaching of the rabbis and takes it one step further. Once again, he calls his followers to return to the only teaching that relieves us of the world of slavery – to return to Torah. Perhaps this day should be remembered as a day when we acknowledge that Yeshua comes with supreme authority to bring us out of slavery by returning us to God’s eternal instruction. Perhaps when the angels sang, “Peace on earth and good will toward men,” they were offering in song what Yeshua offered in teaching. “Return unto me. Come back to My direction and be freed from worldly care.”
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. Matthew 11:29 NASB
My yoke – Western readers of the gospels tend to interpret the teachings of Yeshua as if he were a Sunday school instructor or a pulpit preacher. That’s understandable since it is the cultural heritage of the West. But it doesn’t fit any of the historical and cultural situations of Yeshua in the first century. Yeshua teaches like a rabbi because he was considered a rabbi. Therefore, in order to understand what he is saying, we need to read his remarks as rabbinic, not as if they were Christian exegesis. When we read this verse, we need to consider how the audience would have responded to “yoke,” not how we have typically understood it.
Most Westerners read this verse as if “Jesus” is talking about freedom. They consider the yoke of the Messiah to be the symbolic expression of the freedom they will have when their sins are forgiven. Thanks to Luther and others, they think of “yoke” as the “Law,” and they imagine that Yeshua is removing that horrible burden from them so that they can be set free from sin and death. Unfortunately, this is not what Yeshua’s audience heard.
Marc Turnage notes, “His ‘yoke’ refers to His oral Torah, His teachings.”[1] Perhaps this should have been obvious. I suspect it wasn’t. Yeshua is a rabbinic teacher. His commentary on the Torah of Moses is the authorized explanation for his disciples. In other words, like all rabbis of the first century, he provided explanation, elaboration and amplification of the basic Torah of Moses so that it could be executed in the daily life of the first century. His teachings are the final authority for those who followed him. He told his followers what Moses meant for them. He did not remove their obligation to the Torah of Moses. He explained it.
It’s incredibly difficult to read the text without the accumulated centuries of theological bias, but we must make the effort. Why? Why isn’t it sufficient to simply read the Bible as if the words were directed to us? The answer is, hopefully, obvious. While God may direct our thoughts according to our understanding of the text, the meaning of the author and the understanding of the original audience is what God communicated in His word. Without knowing that, we can read the text any way we want, as has clearly been the case in the history of biblical interpretation. On a less technical level, it comes down to this. If you really want to know what Yeshua wants you to know, you must know it according to the meanings of the words he used when he used them. “Yoke” means “oral teaching” to this audience. It means that we cannot set aside the idea of obligation to governing practice. Yeshua did not endorse Luther. He opposed Luther. There are always standards for behavior and Yeshua’s yoke is the summation of his standards. You and I are expected to follow them if we claim to be his disciples.
“Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:29
Learn – Do you have a degree in Yeshua’s teaching? That’s not the same as theological education. What’s the difference? The Greek verb manthano implies “an intellectual process that always has external effects.” If you major in Yeshua, you end up with a lot more than a certificate on the wall. You end up with a changed life.
Once again we are confronted with a Greek word that needs a Hebrew background. Because our culture is so thoroughly Greek in its thought patterns, we consider learning to be a matter of acquiring information. So we think that knowing what Yeshua said is enough. But as soon as we realize that Yeshua is speaking to us from a Hebrew background, we discover that information is never enough! Mind without heart is not the way of the Master. One of the great thinkers of the Middle Ages said that the entire goal of spiritual life is to express compassion. The gospel in me requires the gospel from me. Learning from Yeshua always means that my behavior changes.
Manthano gives us a clue about the purpose of learning. The earliest Greek usage of this word has the sense of becoming accustomed to something. This process is intended to alter how we act. It is a process that develops personality. This is a great deal more than simply a catalog of facts. But when the Hebrew background is added, then the purpose of learning becomes clear. The purpose of learning is alignment with the heart of God. That means practicing compassion. No man is educated who seeks his own welfare ahead of others. That is the pathway toward destruction. Yeshua was the completely free man, bound entirely to the will of the Father, compassionately giving himself up for others. He is the example.
Manthano has a special nuance that cannot be overlooked. In this verse, Yeshua establishes that learning from him is the most important activity anyone can do. If you really want to know what life is about, go to the final authority: Yeshua. All that is necessary to live as God intended can be found in his words and deeds. You can read the book Everything I Needed to Know I learned in Kindergarten, but you won’t pass God’s Life Lessons course. Yeshua is the teacher you must have!
How much time are you spending with the only teacher who matters? How much of what you learn shows up in how you act? Until the actions of my life look like his life, I’m just taking notes.
“Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:29
Learn – The Greeks were famous for their tragic plays. Many of these productions underlie contemporary films and stories. They had a way of capturing the deepest issues of human existence.
Greek tragedy uses this word, manthano, in a way that gives us another insight into its meaning. Manthano is an attitude that shows itself in the desire of men to live in harmony with the whole. Not much has changed for men in 2500 years of attitude development. We still long for peaceful harmony with our world. For the Greeks, this harmonious attitude was the goal of a long process of education and experience. Manthano is the insight into life that reveals to us our finiteness and limitations. We discover our symbiotic need for the rest of the world. We are awakened to our dependence. The Greeks unraveled the problem, but they did not have the answer.
The Greeks taught us that learning is a process of becoming. As long as we learn, we change. But the Greeks could never give us a practical goal for this process of becoming. Their vision of learning was esoteric. They looked for the answer in a world of ideals that did not have feet on the ground. They looked outside this world. The Hebraic world might talk about the ‘olam ha’ba, but its focus is on the here and now, this earth, this place of restoration.
It took the Hebrew understanding of learning to give us traction.
The Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible also uses the word manthano. It is usually the translation of lamad. The idea behind learning in Hebrew thought is very practical. It is the intentional submission of the will in obedience to God. It is an attitude that desires to please the Lord in every action. In the Tanakh, this attitude is described in the most practical of terms: walking. More than anything else, lamad is knowing what is right and doing it. For the Hebrew, there is no esoteric and mysterious realm entered in by sophisticated knowledge and secret information. There is only simple obedience. The goal of all learning is alignment with the will of the Father—here. To graduate from God’s university of learning is to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
What do you want to know? Are you seeking a certificate of education or the commendation of the Master?
“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me“ Matthew 11:29
Learn from me – Today we are unaware of the audacity of Yeshua’s invitation. We no longer hear these words in their context. They don’t cause scandal or outrage. But maybe they should. Maybe we have become too familiar with biblical verses to feel the impact of his teaching.
Jewish authority is based on past heritage. An educated man came with a lineage of past masters. Yeshua’s teaching caused astonished skepticism. But when he invited others to follow him, to be taught by him, he caused outrage. As far as the religious community was concerned, this was incredible egomania. Only a fool would expect others to follow a man without a pedigree. But Matthew’s words, mathete ap’ emou, “learn from me,” make it clear that Yeshua claimed primary authority, an authority that did not depend on a prior history of teachers, an authority that came straight from God. No wonder some Jews were beside themselves.
Our secular world is just as outraged. The contemporary culture doesn’t get upset (too much) when we claim that Yeshua was a great man of God and a great teacher. There have been many great men of God. Our world even tolerates the claim that Yeshua brought new revelation about God. But it stands in critical astonishment when we claim that Yeshua comes with primary authority. The world is outraged when we followers claim that he is the final authority. The world wants its religious leaders to be connected to long histories of other religious men. It does not want a man who claims to come directly from God.
The secular world wants teachers who are just better men, not teachers who are sent from God. We want to be able to disagree with the teaching because it is human opinion, not divine revelation.
Why does the world have such problems with Yeshua’s claim? Why wouldn’t it enthusiastically embrace news from a man who spoke as God? The answer is emotional. We don’t want to acknowledge the Messiah as God’s final authority because we don’t want to conform our lives to his message. It would be fine if he just gave us theological theory, but when he says that God requires me to change, to repent, to submit, then my reaction is rejection. Then I stand right alongside his first century opponents and say, “Who does he think that he is?”
That’s the question I must answer. Who do I think Yeshua is? If he is the chosen Son, then his authority over me is absolute. When I don’t submit, I am standing with the Jewish scribes, casting doubt on his pedigree. I can’t have it both ways.
Amazingly, the history of the Trinitarian argument creates exactly the opposite problem, but it is just as emotionally upsetting. The secular culture wants a holy man who has opinions; opinions that I can reject without divine reprisal because they are just human. But the Church proclaimed that this holy man is God. I must accept what He says because He isn’t human like any other holy man. He is God in the flesh. The secular world reacts in precisely the same way. “If He really is God, then how can you expect me to live like He did. I’m not God. What He says can’t really help me.” In fact, the claim that He is God is just as outrageous as the claim that he is the final holy man. Both positions lead to confrontation. Either one will force me to deal with who this person really is. How I answer that question for myself will determine whether or not I learn from him.
“Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU SHALL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS” Matthew 11:29
Learn – This Greek verb manthano is not the same as the word used in the Great Commission passage. The verb in Matthew 29:18 is matheteuo. The Great Commission is about discipling others. That means mentoring them in a way that attaches them to the rabbi. That means creating an apprentice relationship. But that is not what Yeshua says here. Right here Yeshua doesn’t ask for discipleship. He asks for observation that results in moral responsibility and action. Do you see the difference?
To make someone my disciple is to choose someone to follow me. The teacher is the active agent, not the pupil. That’s why the Great Commission is not focused on the results but rather, on the method. But in this verse, Yeshua changes the focus. Here the emphasis on is the student, not the teacher. It is the student’s responsibility to carefully observe and copy the teacher. No intimate apprenticeship is required. No “teacher choice” is necessary. All that matters is that the student understand fully the obligation, the responsibility and the action. Manthano is a verb that says, “Just do exactly what I do.”
Why does Yeshua use a verb that doesn’t seem to require discipleship? The answer is buried in the structure of the universe. It’s profound – and simple (most profound things really are simple). If I do exactly what Yeshua does, I will soon discover that my actions reshape my attitudes and emotions – and I will become his follower because I will discover the refreshment I long to have. I will experience something God built into creation – rest! When I do what Yeshua does, I discover my real purpose. At last, I am satisfied. I am in-tune with the symphony of creation, in harmony with God’s design within me. My life becomes a stanza in the poetry of the universe. I can never go back. I make myself a disciple.
It’s such a subtle approach. It’s so brilliant. Don’t worry about getting all the facts right or having deep insights. Don’t fret over theological puzzles or moral dilemmas. Don’t be discouraged that you won’t be chosen as an apprentice. Just copy him. Just examine ever so carefully how he acts, and then do it too. And things will change. The more you do what Yeshua does, the more you will enter into the eternal flow of the Father’s purposes. Things will change. Life will be much less burdensome – much more joyful. You will find the second wind.
Discipling might be up to the teacher, but learning (examining carefully in order to copy) is up to the student. Either way produces the same result. Pretty clever.
“Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU SHALL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS” Matthew 11:29
From – Don’t read this too quickly! You might look at the King James Version instead of the NASB here. That version says, “learn of me.” The implication is that the more we know about Yeshua, the more we will find rest. But that’s not what the Greek text says. The preposition is apo. In Greek, this preposition usually means movement from the edge of something as opposed to movement within something. So, if I went from Jerusalem to Samaria, I would use apo, but if I went from inside the house to outside the house, I would use ek. Now, let’s apply this and see what Yeshua really means.
To learn from Yeshua is simply to see what he does and copy it. It is to observe the movement of Yeshua (his actions and words), not to examine his inner motivation or intention. That makes perfect sense. I really can’t see someone’s intentions or motivations, can I? But I can certainly see how someone behaves. So Yeshua says, “Watch Me, and do as I do.” In other words, I don’t have to have Yeshua’s theological expertise or mental acumen. All I have to do is copy the Master.
Isn’t that easier? Imagine how difficult it would be if the only way that I could enter into rest was to have all the same mental, emotional and intentional capacity of Yeshua. It would be hopeless. I can never become exactly him. But, if entering into rest simply means copying what he does, then I have a chance. I can do what Yeshua does because he is human, just like me. I can minister to the sick, pray to God, worship on the Sabbath, spend time mentoring and consoling, ask the Father for guidance, listen to instructions and carry out commands. I can do all these things, especially since Yeshua promises to help pull the load. He is my living model for behavior that will produce rest.
Of course, that means when I act in ways that are not consistent with his role model actions, I won’t find rest. Do you believe that? Do you really believe that insofar as you do things that do not model his actions, you are bound for dissatisfaction and stress? If you really believe that the only way to find refreshing work is to model Yeshua, then seeing his actions clearly is the most important thing you can copy. You have to cut through the familiar and see how he really behaved. You have to understand how he responded to a wide variety of situations, just like the circumstances that you face. You have to know what he did when faced with accusation, betrayal, rejection, demands, loss, fear and temptation as well as victory, validation, joy, comfort and friendship. If you don’t know what Yeshua did, you can’t know the rest he offers.
Most of us think we can find our own way to the Promised Land. But we end up slaves in Egypt. If you want the rest he offers, you will have to do what He does. It’s not hard but it certainly demands change.
“Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:29
Gentle – The Greek word in Matthew that we translate “meek” or “gentle” is praüs. In the gospels, it is only found in Matthew. In classical Greek, the word means, “gentle, pleasant, friendly”, or “mild.” We usually think of this as outward behavior. The most famous example is Socrates who remains calm and congenial even when he is deliberately poisoned. In Greek thinking, praüs is serene composure in the face of abuse. But Yeshua connects this word to the Hebrew word ana (see Matthew 5:5). Without the Hebrew background, this word points to stoicism. But with the Hebrew background, the entire concept changes. Unlike the Greeks, Yeshua teaches that those who are praüs are so because they are supremely confident of the goodness of God. For Yeshua, praüs is about inner power in the midst of affliction as a mark of God’s sovereign movement in life.
When Yeshua describes himself in terms of ana, he is connecting his affliction and oppression to the character of the redeeming God. From God’s point of view, affliction is not to be passively endured. Yeshua was not a man who just “took it.” He engaged the enemy by responding with forgiveness and compassion even when he suffered consequences for his actions. Yeshua’s “gentleness” allows him to act decisively regardless of circumstances because it is grounded in reliance on the Father. The world is not the arena of stoic resignation. It is the dramatic arena of the kingdom invading the realm of the strongman. It is the action movie of freeing prisoners. It is the celebration of victory over principalities and powers. The man or woman who follows in the footsteps of Yeshua is no wallflower. To be praüs is to act in affliction. It means accepting the challenge of turning away from revenge, away from the balance scales of justice, toward the purposes of God. Who will rejoice in affliction? Only those who know that God’s will prevails, that God is the rightful Judge who will bring peace and justice to a forsaken world. They are the only ones who can rejoice because they know that God’s will is being done.
Your world is not ruled by blind fate or irrational chaos. It is under the control and power of One who guides its movement to His purposes. You are not the victim of happenstance. Your present affliction has purpose and meaning. God is working through you. Judgment, sovereignty, purpose, power and hope are all implied in the context of “gentle.” Followers of the King are not people who lay down without a fight. These are not spiritual wimps. These are men and women who acknowledge the Lord God Almighty as their protector, who submit to His will for their lives while battles rage in heavenly places. They are the true soldiers of the Kingdom, willing to give up their lives for their King. Passive? Not a chance! “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild” is not the Messiah of the Bible. Praüs is about response to affliction through inner strength. It is the shout of victory found in contentment with the will of the Father.
“Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:29
Humble – In order to fully appreciate how onerous this word really is to human beings, we must look behind our sanctified expression of humility and expose ourselves to its root. Servile! Lowly! Base! Submissive! Unworthy! Made small! Humiliated! Weak! Not a single one of these jumps to the head our list of desirable characteristics. We want glory, honor, power, strength, leadership and prestige. For us, the idea of ego deflation is odious. No one wants to be at the bottom. Except Yeshua.
Why does Yeshua describe himself with the word tapeinos? The answer is once again found in the Hebrew thought behind the Greek word. Tapeinos is another derivative of the Hebrew ana, the same word group that we found behind the word “gentle” or “meek.” Yeshua is using two adjectives that modify the same idea. And that idea is very different from the Greek notion of humble. For the Greeks, and for us, humility is associated with a state of being. Our definitions point to intrinsic value. So, when we say “humble” we often mean to say something about the character of the person. That’s why we have such a hard time swallowing the term.
But the Hebrew root ana is not about a state of being. The Hebrew word focuses on actions, not value. To be humble is to bow down, to bend, to make yourself low, to cast yourself down. Humility within the context of ana is choosing to acknowledge the right of another to be my master and lord. In particular, to be humble is to recognize and respond to the sovereignty of God as my rightful king.
Now we see that “gentle” and “humble” are but two facets of the same stone. When Yeshua describes himself as “gentle” (praüs), he is really saying that his inner strength comes from total acceptance and reliance on the will of the Father. His power is God in him. When Yeshua says that he is “humble” (tapeinos), he is saying that he bows before the Father as the God of all creation and he serves the Father as the only Lord of his life.
Our world exalts individual freedom, power and personal glory. The Western world despises subjection and humility. But God does not share this view of life. Those who acknowledge Him as Lord and Ruler know that the secret to power is not found in ego but in emptiness. The scandal of the Christ is the act of subjection.
Have you made the choice to embrace the scandal of the Christ today?
“Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:29
Find – There are three nuances to the word heurisko. Context determines the correct understanding. However, when the word is translated into English, we often lose the flavor. We end up with plain vanilla when the word was really French Vanilla Cream. Plain vanilla gives us “find” and we think, “Oh, yes. To find something is to come to the end of a search. To discover through effort and application.” We go merrily on our way imagining that Yeshua gives us a religious methodology that means, “by putting yourself in active submission you find rest.” After all, we get the English word “heuristic” from this Greek root. That implies a useful tool that can be discarded after it has served its purpose. Is that what Yeshua had in mind? A trial and error method for experiencing peace and tranquility? A tool that is only good to get us somewhere?
Not a chance! It’s not plain vanilla. It’s French Vanilla Cream. The nuance that is missing in the plain translation “find” is this: heurisko generally means “to find without seeking, to come upon as though by accident, to meet with.” Rest serendipitously comes upon me. I wasn’t looking for it but it happened. All I was doing was letting Yeshua carry the load. All I was doing was changing my behavior because I spent time with him. And suddenly I realize that I am at peace. Rest surprised me. It slipped in while I wasn’t looking. This is experiencing recovery, not because I pursue it but because while I am doing something else (like practicing the steps), recovery emerges as a by-product of changes in me.
How did it get there? The answer is this: Yeshua is the active agent of rest, not me. This is a paradox of life. When I deliberately seek rest, I cannot find it. I exhaust myself in the search. But as soon as I put my energy and effort into confident submission to the will of the Father, rest arrives unbidden. It is a gift, not a reward.
There are many days when I long for rest. I feel worn down, vulnerable and drained. I carry burdens too heavy for me. I struggle to spend time with Yeshua because I feel the obligation of religion. It’s all just too much.
The Messiah speaks softly to my soul. “Cast your cares on me. We’re a team. Listen to my words of encouragement and comfort. Look at the way that I trust the Father.” I let go. And rest comes to town.
“Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU SHALL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS” Matthew 11:29
Find Rest – What did the listeners hear when Yeshua quoted this passage from Jeremiah (see Jeremiah 6:16)? They knew it, of course, since they were schooled in the Scripture. All Yeshua had to do was quote one part of the verse and the audience could fill in the blanks. But it’s precisely this missing part that matters, the part that we don’t see in this text from Matthew. Do you know what Yeshua didn’t say?
Jeremiah 6:16 is God speaking to the wayward house of Israel. It’s a very timely passage. All around, says the Lord, people are crying, “Peace, peace.” But there is no peace. Why? Because the children have abandoned the good ways, the path of the Lord. They were not even ashamed to forsake God’s ways. They wanted to be relevant. God says, “Walk in the old paths and you shall find rest.” Don’t walk in them, and you will find destruction!
Yeshua cites just enough of this prophecy in Jeremiah to get the attention of the audience. But here’s the real barb. Yeshua is telling his audience that if they want to see what it means to walk in the old ways, the good path, they need to look at him! If you want to see what it means to live according to the commandments, look at the Messiah. Do what he does and you will automatically be faithful to God.
In Jeremiah, the Hebrew words are va umitsu margoa from masa (to find or attain) and margoa (a state of refreshment and life). In other words, seek first the kingdom of heaven, and all these things will be added. Sound familiar? There is a reason why Yeshua had an electrifying effect on his audience, but it’s not because he was presenting novel material. It was because he interpreted what God intended for the people. Jeremiah’s verse is God speaking. No one in the audience could possibly doubt that. Now Yeshua proclaims that he is the pathway to the rest that God offers. Could anyone miss the point? Not a chance! Yeshua claims that he is God’s authorized agent by quoting just enough of Jeremiah to make it obvious to anyone who really listened.
If you want rest, that state of refreshment in life, then you will have to come to Yeshua and follow his halacha as the pathway of obedience. If you want to know the Father’s blessing and the Father’s delight, then you will have to take the yoke of Yeshua upon you. In other words, if you want to know rest, you have to live according to this rabbi’s teaching. And God endorses it.
If you can’t feel the electricity running through the crowd when Yeshua said these words, then you must be dead (or sufficiently insulated so that nothing gets to you). Now you know one more reason why you can’t read the apostolic writings without the Tanakh, and you can’t understand what Yeshua is saying without understanding his view of the God of Scripture. Yeshua is not only the only way to the Father. He is also the only way to refreshing life.
Have you carried the load long enough to know this?
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls” Matthew 11:29
Rest – In Greek – anapuasis. A combination of two Greek words – ana (a prefix that means “again”) and pauo (a root word meaning “to give rest”). This word means inward tranquility while performing necessary labor. The emphasis is on the inner life, not on the outward activity. Synonyms for this Greek term are recovery of breath or a relaxing of chords or strings drawn too tight, a restful, natural sleep or an inner peace. In this verse, Yeshua promises the one thing that people in recovery seek most – inner peace.
Think of the times you have watched a child sleep. There is an undisturbed tranquility in that rest – a peacefulness that comes from letting go of all cares and concerns.
We know the torment in our souls. We know the constant turmoil of compulsion and white-knuckle struggle. But here Yeshua promises rest, the gentle rest of a sleep without nightmares, the rest of deep-seated serenity and calm. He does not promise that the necessary labor will be removed. He promises that we will be able to go about living with peace of mind and tranquil hearts. It is an offer that sounds almost too good to be true. But it is true. Real spirituality leads us to peace of heart, tranquility of mind. We know that this is a gift because no matter how hard we tried to find it when the compulsions of life ruled over us, we never knew serenity. What an unbelievable joy to know that our surrender will bring us rest, not struggle. The pathway to serenity is not a Herculean fight but a gentle surrender. One measure of the integrity of your life is the tranquility of your sleep. To sleep without anxiety, without fear, without the restlessness of compulsive desire is a reflection of the purity of your relationships with God and others. For many of us, such a sleep is but a dream. Our waking moments are dimly lit nightmares that shine with searchlight intensity when we close our eyes. But it doesn’t have to be like this.
In a world where everything is “too busy,” Yeshua promises us a center of restful retreat. How can he make this promise? Because he knows that life is not in our hands but in the hands of his Father. Relax. God is in charge. Depend entirely on Him. You can sleep tonight.
[1] Marc Turnage, Windows into the Bible, p. 266.
Topical Index: Matthew 11:28-29
