Matthew 11: 29
The Yoke of Christ

I. FIRST, THIS MORNING, THINK ABOUT THE YOKE OF THE GOSPEL AND THE COMMUNION.

1. I have for many years pointed out something that I think is significant about the communion: In contrast to baptism where there is only one element, in communion there are two: viz. the bread and the juice of the vine.  It is my contention that the two elements are not repetitive but stand for two distinct things about our commitment to Christ which is renewed in the communion.

2. What the cup stands for is very clear.  It stands for the atonement and Saviorhood of our Lord.  When you partake of this cup of the communion, you are re-subscribing to the Saviorhood of the Lord.  And God is certifying to you, that, if you are fulfilling the conditions, Christ's atonement is for you. 

3. The bread, however, stands for something different.  I believe it stands for the whole idea of God having come in the flesh, for the fact that our Lord lived his human life in our behalf -- so that  his personal righteousness, which was worked out in that mortal life, might be imputed -- be "charged," the word means -- to our account at the same time that our sins were imputed to him.  When Jesus said: "This is my body," he was not so much calling attention to his flesh as he was calling attention to his person as the God-man -- of which the communion bread was the symbol.

4. And, this having been said, we are to understand, I think, that while, in the use of the cup we are privileged to respond to his Saviorhood, in our use of the bread, taking it into our bodies which represent all that we are, we subscribe to his  Lordship, for it was in  his body, as the God-man, that he commanded -- and still does command -- our loyalty to his teachings and standards of behavior and of lifestyle. 

And, so it is, that every time you take the cup of the communion, God is calling upon you to re-subscribe to his Saviorhood and every time you eat the bread of the communion, you re-subscribe to him as Lord.

Now in connection with our passage this morning, the yoke is the fitting symbol of the Lordship of Christ, just as the cross is a symbol of his Saviorhood.  Every time you take the cup of the communion, God is calling upon you to re-subscribe to his Saviorhood; and every time you eat the bread of the communion, you re-subscribe to him as Lord.

II. NOW, LET US LOOK AT THE YOKE OF CHRIST IN MORE DETAIL FROM THIS PASSAGE.

1. It is a yoke of obedience and burden-bearing  in behalf of an owner/master.  Whatever else a yoke may mean, it is an instrument for doing the will of the owner of the beast that wears it.  It is an instrument that enables burden-bearing.  The idea of some kind of a yoke was invented early in civilization when it was discovered  that a beast could pull, perhaps, ten times as much weight with a frame or a collar around its shoulders rather than by just tying a choke rope around its neck.

There were good and bad yokes for animals of different species and sizes.  Some distributed the load evenly; others were poorly designed and poorly made.  Humanity puts itself under many different kinds of yokes: bondage to people; bondage to appetites; bondage to wealth or fame or power; bondage to self-aggrandizement.  But here is a different kind of yoke.  It is "my yoke," said Jesus.  And it is a part of our acceptance that we made when we accepted Jesus as the Savior and as the Lord.

2. It is also a yoke of instruction.

"Take my yoke upon you and learn of me," he said.

The Christian life is one long expanse of growing in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is an obligation of discipleship and flows from the yoke of his Lordship.  It must be learning that is "precept upon precept, line upon line; here a little, there a little," to use the words of Isaiah 28: 10.

When God ordained the local church as the basic unit of worship, learning and discipline in his kingdom, he gave as primary officers, not entertainers, gurus, magicians, care-providers or priests, but teachers!

3. The yoke of Christ is also a yoke of satisfaction and fulfillment: "Take my yoke upon you for I am gentle and lowly of heart" and: "My yoke is easy and my burden is light," the Savior said.

Christ may be calling attention to the fact that in antiquity some yokes were poorly made, poorly fitted or worn in such a way as to hurt the creature upon which they were placed.  When I was in Korea and then 9 years later in Palestine I saw home-made yokes that  were a terrible punishment to the beast upon which they had been placed.  I have seen beautiful leather collars for horses and have a couple of them here in the house.  But sometimes I have seen something that looked like oxen yokes make out of bent wood that were put on a horse or a donkey and were very punishing to the animal.  The most cruel yokes I have seen were a square frame that looked like a picture frame, only made out of heavy wood like 2X4s, and it pulled against the animal's shoulders unevenly.  I have even seen humans harnessed up to carts and plows in this fashion.

Metaphorical yokes are like that.  They are often harsh and eternally destructive to their human wearer.  They don't start out that way.  But then, as time goes on, the yoke begins to chafe and rub upon the person wearing it, creating irritation and then, ugly ulcers and sores and finally death.  This is the way of oppression and sin.

But his yoke is easy and his burden is light because it is designed for the particular creature by the one who made that creature and who knows all about him; and because the burden is mitigated by the presence of the Holy Spirit and by the remembrance that, in eternity to come, Christ will reward every servant a hundred fold for the burdens and the sorrows and difficulties that were a part of that yoke of Christ.

4. Finally, it is a yoke of rest.  "Take my yoke upon you -- and you shall find rest for your souls."  How strange that we would find rest in the symbol of heavy labor.  But it is so!

Rest for the weary soul of the individual who could not find rest in any other place of rest; rest for the individual who finds himself in bondage to another yoke that is all but destroying him.  Here the Lord, no doubt speaks about the peace of justification accomplished and the prospect of eternal approval by the Divine Trinity, in eternity to come.  But not only so, he speaks also about the sense of fulfillment and meaningfulness in a life that is given over to Christ's service and Lordship.

Old Augustine got it right when he prayed his prayer: 

Thou has made us for thyself;
And our hearts are restless 
till they find their rest in thee.

Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; For I am gentle and 
lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your souls; for my 
yoke is easy and my burden is light.