“Take my yoke; let me show you how it works.”

In this week's teaching series by Ray Vander Laan, we learn about Jesus' use of the image of an ox’s yoke drawn from ancient history. The yoke is a metaphor connected to discipleship practice.

There is also a phrase known as “yoke of water,” but the term Jesus uses refers specifically to the implement an ox or donkey would wear, which channels the animal’s power into productive action. Understanding discipleship in the light of the first-century Jewish world helps us understand the role of rabbis. The job of a rabbi was to teach the text, interpret it, and model how it is lived out.

Today we are looking at the Yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven or the Yoke of the Torah in light of Jesus in the first century.

It begins with the understanding that when God speaks in Scripture, especially when read aloud, he calls his people to shema—to hear and obey (Deuteronomy 6:4–9). But understanding was not always simple, so God provided Moses to help Israel understand what God said and what he required. In later Jewish understanding, Moses’ role was carried on by the rabbis. Their job was to interpret Scripture, explain what it means, show how to apply it, and model it with their lives.

In the Gospels, on several occasions someone came to “test” Jesus. Some Christians assume these tests were hostile, but sometimes they were simply the normal way rabbis evaluated one another’s interpretations. A rabbi could learn how another rabbi interpreted Scripture by the kind of question he was asked.

When Jesus was tested, he often responded, “It is written” (e.g., Matthew 4:4,7,10). But then the question becomes, how did he read it? So, when Jesus is asked, “How do I inherit eternal life?” he turns the question back: “What is written in the Torah, and how do you read it?” (Luke 10:25–28). The interpretive approach to Scripture was called a Yoke. A rabbi’s yoke meant: “Here is how I interpret the Scriptures and how I live them.”

A yoke is a physical object, but also a metaphor. “Take my yoke”—the Yoke of the Kingdom, the Yoke of the Torah—is what Jesus means. Ray brings out a yoke his friend gave him to show what it looks like. It sits on a stand in his study as a reminder of the promise he made long ago to take Jesus’ yoke.

A yoke is an implement used with animals to carry or pull a load. The enormous power of an ox must be directed. The yoke transfers strength into real work. An ox, weighing over 1,200 pounds, can pull a plow deep into the soil for hours with only short rests. But without a yoke, that power accomplishes nothing.

In the thinking of the rabbis, the Bible is like the ox, full of enormous power. Why? Because God’s presence comes when you open and recite Scripture, and that is the greatest power the universe has ever known. But how do you harness that power to accomplish something?

You obey. You hear, believe, and do. God’s Word can accomplish incredible things (Isaiah 55:10–11). But you need a yoke to figure out how to take the power of Scripture and put it into action. Without a yoke, you do not make use of the power. So the rabbi would say: once you interpret Scripture, once you know what it says and what it asks you to do, and if the rabbi is a good model, then you know how to place that yoke on your shoulders and allow the power of the Word to work in you.

Most often, rabbis did not disagree about major interpretations of Scripture, but they did debate significant issues: What is the greatest commandment? Is divorce permissible? Must one wear tassels? They debated the details. In the metaphor, a disciple in the first century might come to a rabbi and say, “We worship on Sunday as the Sabbath.” The rabbi would take him to the Torah and show that the Sabbath is Saturday, and then offer his interpretation of how to keep it holy. The student would respond, “I want to take your yoke—I want to interpret Scripture that way too.”

You would not follow a rabbi unless you believed his yoke was correct. If you did not accept his interpretation, you would not follow him. But once you did follow him, you accepted all his interpretations, applications, and his modeled life.

Why the Yoke of the Kingdom? Because it expresses the first line of the Shema: “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone” (Deuteronomy 6:4). It means that he is my King; I do not always like or understand everything, but he is King. If there is a King, there is a Kingdom. The Yoke of the King is the Yoke of the Kingdom. Once I understand what the Lord says, I apply it to my life. The second part of the Shema says that since he is King, you love him with all your heart, soul, and strength—and you love his Torah by obeying it (Deuteronomy 6:5–9).

Matthew 11:28–30 says: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest... Take my yoke upon you and learn from me... For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

When Jesus says “Take my yoke,” the disciples would have understood him to mean: “Take my interpretation of Scripture as your own, and take the strength of an ox, which is the power of God’s living Word, and put it to work.”

Sometimes we do not see more of God’s power in our lives because we do not live out Scripture consistently. Being a responsible yoke-taker matters. The fact that Jesus calls it “my yoke” implies he sees himself in messianic terms, within the context of teaching and interpretation.

Most people use this passage to talk about everyday burdens, but that is not Jesus’ primary meaning. Jesus is speaking to people weary from trying to figure out what Scripture looks like in practice. This is about learning, studying, interpreting, and living Scripture. He says: “Learn from me, and you will find rest for your souls.”

We put enormous effort into things we do not have to—sports, art, hobbies—because they are rewarding. Ray uses massive rocks in landscaping simply because he loves stones. Three times in this Matthew passage, Jesus interprets Scripture. “Come to me and I will give you rest.” Jews would have remembered that Moses in the wilderness said God’s presence would give rest (Exodus 33:14). That promise belonged to God.

Jewish listeners would have expected Jesus to say, “Take my yoke, and the Lord will give you rest.” Instead he says, “I will give you rest.” They would have heard him claiming that his yoke is the Lord’s yoke.

A Jewish student of Scripture would also recognize the phrase “you will find rest for your souls.” That line comes from Jeremiah 6:16 - “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths... walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jesus is saying: “Take my interpretation, and you will find rest.” In other words, his yoke is the ancient path—the true way to God.

A Jewish scholar once said that what they heard Jesus say was: “If you walk according to my yoke, it will model God’s path.” Jesus is claiming, I am the path; there is no other way to the Father (John 14:6). He invites others to take his interpretation of Scripture. He claims to be God and the way to God, and the meaning was so profound many missed it.

Jesus also says, “Take my yoke, for I am gentle and humble in heart.” Scripture says Moses was the most humble man on the face of the earth (Numbers 12:3). Jews expected the Messiah to be a second Moses. When Jesus called himself gentle and humble, people would have heard him claiming that role—and like Moses, he would teach them how to interpret Torah.

You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink—yet you can put salt in the feed.

Jesus is saying: I am the Lord because I give rest; I am the path to God because walking in my yoke brings rest for your souls; I am the ultimate interpreter of Scripture.