Come to Me, all of you who work to exhaustion, who labor, who are weary, and who are heavy laden, who are burdened, and I will give you rest, cause you rest.

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble I heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For My yoke is comfortable, pleasant and easy, and My “burden” is actually no burden at all because it is not burdensome; it is light. Matthew 11:28-30

“Cause you to rest.” Permission to rest, to be sure. But more. Causation. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He restores my soul. I need this.

Sometimes my attempt at rest itself is work. Or illusory. What was intended to be rest sometimes turns out not to be. TV never leaves me feeling refreshed. Vacations are tricky. They can be restorative. Or exhausting. And I may return to burdens, not relieved from them.

Sleep is a gift. Inability to sleep is painful. Sleep and downtime are essential. They are an absolute physical and psychological necessity, even for Jesus. But rest, real rest, rest for my soul, restoration for my soul, is something more.

“Come to Me,” says Jesus. Herein ends the doing part. He takes it from there. Even the causing to rest.

How He does it is a divine mystery. All I know is I qualify for the invitation, one who works to exhaustion. Come to Him I do.

“Take My yoke … .” Initially it doesn’t seem like such a good idea. Another yoke is not what I’m looking for. There is no express offer of an exchange here, my chaffing yoke for His pleasant one. But perhaps that is implied. After all, how can one wear two yokes?

Jesus doesn’t expressly direct me to take off my yoke. His direction is to put on His. To be yoked up is life. To be engaged, active, working, participatory. Jesus invites me to slip into his waiting, comfortable yoke, to get busy in His harnesses. Some other tackle may get displaced – as a result. Saying yes to His yoke comes first. Taking off other yokes peaceably flows as part of saying yes to His.

What if I don’t feel I can take off that other yoke? What if it feels that the other responsibility is obligatory, non-optional, unavoidable? That is a worthy question. There may be an assumption that needs to be challenged about whether a seemingly mandatory yoke I’m wearing really is. Is this Jesus’ yoke for me in this season? After examination, by the Father, if the answer is still yes, then He promises it to be pleasant. If I’m not experiencing that, why not? That is something to take to Him. In the meantime, perhaps the starting place is not to focus on what is to be shed, but on what He is inviting me to put on. His promise is not more burdens, but relief from them.

Jesus promises me an easy yoke. He explains why. He is gentle, and humble. Jesus is clear in his Words, and His example and record, that He is no harsh task master. Master, yes. And gentle. And humble. He knows my weaknesses, and made Himself weak and experienced them. There is great empathy. There is great love. There is great invitation into His relationship, into His yoke, but never to oppress, control or beat down.

I will find rest for my soul, He says. In a yoke. I would not expect rest in any yoke. Hence my avoidance of all yokes, especially when I am tired.

Come to Me. Put on My yoke. This is the invitation to rest. This is a paradox, that yoking up will be restful. This paradox is answered only in Jesus.

Isaiah expressed this paradox as that those who “wait” upon the LORD will “run” and not grow weary, will “walk” and not faint.

How can I wait, and run and walk, all at the same time?

Dogs love yokes, leashes, harnesses. Think of Alaskan sled dogs. They come alive when the harness comes out. Dogs may even bring leashes out themselves. Because they know what it means. It’s time to be with the master, to be outside, to be doing what they love. It is their purpose.

Jesus quotes Jeremiah: “Thus says the LORD: Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it. And you will find rest for your souls.” Jeremiah 6:16.

Here the paradox is again. Stand, see, ask, and then walk. Walk – and you will find rest. The resting is somehow in the walking.

But not just any walking.

Jesus offers anew the same gift that was promised by Jeremiah from walking in the ancient paths. Jesus can make this offer because Jesus is the Ancient of Days. And He is the Way. It is not antiquity or tradition that gives rest. It is Jesus. It is walking in His ways. It is walking in Him.

Rest comes from making a choice. From choosing the LORD’s “yoke,” which will exclude other yokes. From hearing the LORD’s invitation, and saying yes to it.

Jesus’ invitation: Come to Me. Take My yoke upon you. Let it exclude other, painful yokes. Learn from Me. My “burden” is no burden. I will cause you to rest. You will find rest for your soul. My yoke will be easy, my load, light.

My RSVP: yes!

Lord, help me to be about only Your business. Help me shed every yoke, every seeming responsibility, every waste of time and energy, every distraction and non-life-giving pursuit. Help me see, know, concentrate on, accept and do only that which You have for me. Thank You for Your promise of rest. You know that I depend on You even to cause my rest. I trust You. I receive the rest You promise, even as I am busy in the work You give me. Both the work and the rest are gifts from Your loving hand.

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