Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your soul.
– Matthew 11:29 esv
This passage is a direct invitation. It is not inconspicuous or uninterruptable. His call is to come and take His yoke – one that is light and without burden.
In verse 25, Jesus gave thanks to His Father for revealing the “Hidden things” to the children and not to the “wise or understanding.” Such things were the principles and secrets of the Kingdom of God that required great humility to grasp, yet alone agree with. They were all the lessons He just previously taught to the stubborn people that would have been standing by (and to our reluctant hearts as we listen in). Jesus had just alluded to God’s sovereignty through the role of John the Baptist, and then called out the unrepentant city for their stuck-up attitudes before God. After doing so, He then thanks God the Father for not letting prideful and sin-satisfied people into the knowledge of the hidden things.
It should be our dread to ever be Christ’s prayer request that we would be banished as the outsiders who are unknowing. We should desire to be like Christ – or the children He refers to – so that we many be a part of the chosen ones who ‘God is pleased to share His will’ (vs. 28).
Is Christ making the point then that we should not strive to be wise and understanding, but just be childish in our thinking? No, not at all! It is clear in other parts of scripture that we are to ask for wisdom, and wisdom is supreme above all things (Prov. 4:7). Rather, Christ is giving a commanding invitation to be like children in our faith – believing with wild abandon. He doesn’t want us to be like the Pharisees who just tried to cover sin with knowledge and therefore lay in their own bed of hypocrisy. He longs for repentant and humble hearts to join Him in His yoke.
If we have an unhindered faith and deep-seated humility, we are then invited to join Christ in His way of salvation and work thereafter. We are to be girded with Him in the task of furthering His Kingdom. Those who take the yoke of Christ are not only revealed the ‘hidden things’ but are now part of sharing them with others, as Christ desires.
This calling is not burdensome. In fact, it is immediate relief for sin and the guilt that follows. It is also something that is used for our teaching and correcting. It is not that we are leading Christ, or equal to Him in anyway. Rather, we are in the stalk with Him and He is directing our steps. What a beautiful invitation – “Learn from me.” Everything in us should be yearning with childlike desire, “Yes, Christ…teach me! Teach me!”
Even with the lessons being taught and the steps being commanded, we are relieved. His invitation ends with a promise – “you will find rest for your soul.” Our gentle and humble Savior will provide peace far deeper than flesh or nerves. He will literally comfort the deepest part of our being and we will find rest in His arms. Nowhere else you will ever find an invitation quite like this!