For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
Christ’s yoke and burden
some of the particulars in which Christ is reputed to impose a heavy yoke and burden. I know of no obligation chat rests upon me as a Christian which does not equally rest upon me as a man.
1. The burden of duty. Purity, justice, love, industry, are enjoined upon me as a man. This burden Christ makes light and easy.
(1) By giving us clear knowledge of the right in His plain precepts.
(2) By the irresistible motives to duty which He supplies in the love of the Father.
2. The yoke of penitence, the burden of self-reproach. This burden we bring with us into the school of Christ; nor can we get rid of it by remaining from Christ. It has rested far more heavily under Pagan than Christian auspices. But through Christ penitence is the way to peace. Its tears are the dew-drops of the soul’s resurrection morning. Forgiveness is its counterpart.
3. The burden of selfdenial. This not merely a Christian duty, but a universal necessity. Through Christ it is made such as we can carry with joy and gratitude.
4. The unavoidable burden of earthly suffering least of all to be ascribed to Christ. (A. P. Peabody, D. D.)
Christ’s yoke easy
Important that those to whom the ministry of the gospel is entrusted should state with clearness the real nature of religion, neither too easy or too difficult.
I. Christians are under the yoke. Not their own masters; please not themselves. What is the yoke? Obedience to His commandments.
II. It is an easy yoke.
1. In comparison with the yoke of Satan.
2. In comparison with the yoke which self-righteousness imposes on mankind.
3. As it is made easy in itself to those who wear it, Christ renders obedience pleasant to His followers. (E. Cooper.)
Christ s burden a light burden
I. In what it consists.
1. In the daily conflict which the Christian maintains with the sin that dwelleth in him.
2. In the hostile treatment which the Christian experiences from the world.
3. In the chastening which the Christian receives from his heavenly Master.
II. It is light.
1. It is light compared with the burden of the unpardoned sin in another world.
2. It is light compared with the burden of unpardoned sin in this world.
3. It is made light in itself to those who bear it; strength is given to bear it. (E. Cooper.)
Hard to nature, easy to grace
Is Christ’s yoke not easy then? Is there not force and meaning in His own words? Yes, most assuredly; but it is easy only to them who, having heard His voice, have come unto Him at His call, and who have thus received the will, the grace, the strength to take it upon them, and to bear it. A thing is easy to be done just in proportion to the power of doing it. It is easy for a man to lift a weight which a child could not move from the ground. It is easy for the bird to soar into the atmosphere, and for the fish to make its way through the waters; their natures are suited to their respective elements; but it were impossible for man to do either. So, in the spiritual world, what becomes easy to a believing and renewed soul is impossible to a sinner in his carnal state. What is impossible to nature, is easy to grace. (J. Macfarlane.)
The nature and excellence of the Saviour’s discipline
I. That christ has his yoke, his discipline, and that we are never to forget that it is so substantially and really. These are, in the first place, conditions of discipleship.
1. One condition is the entire submission of the judgment of the disciples to the Great Teacher.
2. If any man will be My disciple, so says our Lord, let him deny himself.
3. Taking up the cross.
But the discipline of Christ has its restraints as well as its conditions.
1. Christ lays restraint upon our society.
2. Upon the affections and tempers of the soul.
3. Upon the words.
4. Upon the whole conduct.
Then there is service, too, in the discipline of Jesus Christ.
1. Service of devotion.
2. Charity and zeal.
II. That his yoke is easy and that even his burden is light. Rest can be found in no other way of life. Easy
(1) Because the discipline of Christ is confined to the truth and reality of things;
(2) Because it brings with it a sense of the approbation of the great God Himself;
(3) Because it is part of the religion of Jesus Christ to plant in the soul principles corresponding with everything which God requires of us, it is a regenerating system;
(4)Because it is a discipline which has always a respect to the heavenly state, and whilst it is the only road to heaven, it is the infallible preparation for it. (R. Watson.)
Christ’s yoke easy to the subjects of His kingdom
1. Because having come to Christ they have received the willing mind to bear it.
2. Because there is a pure satisfaction imparted to their mind even in the very exercise of self-denial and self-abasement which He enjoins.
3. Because His Presence is promised to be with His servants to make it easy and light.
4. This yoke ever becomes easier and this burden lighter as the Christian continues to bear it.
5. That it is easy in comparison with that which must otherwise be borne. (J. Macfarlane.)
Religion easy
1. Because of the means of instruction which are afforded us, to teach us how to commence it.
2. Because of the principles on which the Christian acts; not from compulsion, but from filial affection.
3. Because of the helps which a Christian derives while maintaining the discipline of that life.
4. Because of the enjoyments that stand connected with the Christian’s course.
5. Because of the prospect before him in heaven. (E. E. Jenkins.)
Christ’s service easy
Christ’s service is easy to a spiritual mind.
I. It is easy, as it is a rational service: consonant to right reason, though contradictory to depraved nature.
II. Easy, as it is a spiritual service: delightful to a spiritual mind.
III. Easy, as it is an assisted service; considering that we work not in our own strength, but in God’s.
IV. Easy, when once it is an accustomed service; though hard to beginners, it is easy to professors; the farther we walk the sweeter is our way.
V. Easy, as it is the most gainful service; having the assurances of an eternal weight of glory as the reward of our obedience. (Burkitt.)
God knows our burden
A little boy was helping his father to unpack some boxes of dry goods. His father took the pieces of goods from the box and put them on the outstretched arms of the boy. “Don’t you think you have load enough?” said some one passing by. “Father knows best. He knows how much I ought to carry,” replied the boy. How much trust and confidence it shows us. He knew that his father, who loved him, would not give him more than he could carry. And so it is with our Heavenly Father. Sometimes we think He is putting more on us than we can carry, and we become fretful. Sometimes He adds sorrow to sorrow until we think we cannot bear the load, but He knows best, and will not give us more than we can bear, for He is a kind and loving Father.