“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” – Mathew 11:28-29

In the verses preceding the above, Jesus bemoans the treatment meted out to John the Baptist and Himself by the very people they had been sent to save. He explains that even though He and John had different personalities, their messages were the same, and this was enough to have at least met Israel half-way. Contrary to this sentiment, they were largely ignored, particularly in Carpenaum, Chorazin and Bethsaida. It seemed to Him that clearly the people cared less that they bore the yoke of sin and needed saving.

We’ve learned that a yoke is a husbandry tool used to plough the soil to enhance farming, that in the Bible, the word yoke was mostly used to connotate slavery, servitude or burden. It is evident that majority of the individuals Jesus ministered to were underprivileged and in need. They are people who suffered from different illnesses and looked for relief. Some were possessed by demons, others had their faces deeply scarred by difficult lives. They did not belong to that era’s social elite, who rejected Him. They were the outcasts, therefore Jesus’s statement in Mathew 11:28-29 was exactly what they needed, deliverance from sin and rest for their souls.

There are many in the church today who are still in bondage and are bearing yokes of evil patterns, diseases, stagnation and scarcity. Jesus’s desire is to set everyone free and give us rest. In Luke 13, there was a woman whom Jesus considered a daughter of Abraham. This woman had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity,” and immediately the woman was healed.

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me” is our call for today. The Lord is charging us to take after Him and learn from His ways. For in Him shall we find deliverance from bondage and rest for our souls. I pray that we will be quickened in the Spirit to take this very needed step in Jesus name, Amen!