Yoked

Resting in the Kingship of Christ

Cristo Rey, Virgilio Mattoni

“It is such a folly to pass one’s time fretting, instead of resting quietly on the heart of Jesus”

St. Therese of Lisieux

In most cases, being stalked is a foul, unwelcome experience. Being tracked like prey is enough to drive most to madness. Yet God, in His often inexplicable grace and wisdom, can orchestrate our lives in a way that allows even being stalked to be of great benefit. This is especially true when stalked by Holy Scripture.

One quiet morning several months ago, I woke up with Matthew 11:28-30 repeating over and over again in my mind.

“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 I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30, RSV

Having this fixed in my mind was odd enough, but things got seriously strange when these verses came up repeatedly, no matter what I was doing. Around this time, these verses happened to be included in the gospel portion of the daily Mass readings. Podcast after podcast, regardless of the subject, would somehow, someway, reference these verses.

Derek Petty

, without any knowledge of my being stalked, quoted this verse in a Substack note related to one of his favorite songs. This was all too much to ignore. God was clearly trying to get me to focus on this part of His gospel. Was this because I needed to do a better job of getting more sleep? Maybe. Was it because my active job and workout routine had become a bit much? Not likely. I don’t have time to over-train even if I wanted to. Could it be that while juggling marriage, parenting, earning money, taking care of my health, running errands, and maintaining a home, all while keeping my spiritual house in order, I fell into the trap of relying on myself? And if everything was not perfect, I acted like the earth would collapse around me, and it would be my fault? Yeah…that seems like a good reason for God (who is love itself) to reach out and comfort His son. Like any good father, having my attention was not enough. He needed me to learn, and the subject of His lesson was rest.

Any amount of rest we can squeeze into our lives as fast-paced Americans is considered a gift from Heaven. It’s tempting to think that rest is easy to achieve. We remove tasks from our to-do lists, go to bed a bit earlier, and boom, we’re resting! But refer again to the list above. Marriage, parenting, earning money, taking care of our health, running errands, maintaining a home, and keeping our spiritual houses in order are not tasks we can set aside. They are our responsibility to God and our families, and we must uphold them. These are non-negotiables. It would be sinful to neglect these responsibilities. These are our yokes, aren't they? No. No, they are not.

A quick internet search for "yoke" will provide a picture of a large wooden frame that joins work animals (mostly Oxen) at the neck. This conveys that the Oxen are laboring hard and carrying a heavy load. This image is often given to us alongside the previously mentioned scripture to show us what our life is like when we carry burdens ourselves instead of laying them on Christ. This image is not wrong, but Christ was making a much more profound point to the Israelites who were present, and is also making a more profound point to us.

First, we need to realize that putting on a yoke symbolized to the Israelites putting on someone’s kingship. In Jeremiah chapters 27-31, God directed Jeremiah to put on a yoke and rebuke the Israelites. Jeremiah puts on the yoke and tells the people that their disobedience will bring about captivity, and they will be subject to the burdensome Kingdom of Babylon. This sheds light on yet another Old Testament passage that helps us understand what Christ was saying.

In my efforts to learn more about this passage from Matthew, I came across teachings from Dr. Tim Gray and Dr.Michael Barber of the Augustine Institute. They point out that to better understand what Christ was saying, we need to remember the civil wars between the Israelites throughout the Old Testament, specifically the rebellion of the northern tribes of Israel, which ultimately led to the division of Israel into the northern and southern kingdoms, Israel to the north and Judah to the south. The rebellion came about after the death of Solomon as Rehoboam began to reign.

“Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. And when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was still in Egypt, whither he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from Egypt. And they sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke upon us, and we will serve you.” He said to them, “Depart for three days, then come again to me.” So the people went away. Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” And they said to him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants for ever.” But he forsook the counsel which the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. And he said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put upon us’?” And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but do you lighten it for us’; thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's loins. And now, whereas my father laid upon you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.’“ So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, “Come to me again the third day.” And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel which the old men had given him, he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.” So the king did not hearken to the people; for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord that he might fulfil his word, which the Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. And when all Israel saw that the king did not hearken to them, the people answered the king, “What portion have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.” So Israel departed to their tents. But Rehoboam reigned over the people of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah. Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam made haste to mount his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.”

1 Kings 12:1-19 RSV

The people of Israel seek Rehoboam, begging that he change from the ways of his father, Solomon, and lighten their yoke. Instead, he is harsh and makes it known that his kingship, his yoke, will be even heavier, causing the kingdom to split.

Hundreds of years later, after several eras of being yoked to various oppressive kingdoms, now subject to the Romans, Jesus has come and is speaking to the descendants of those whom Rehoboam chastised and is saying, “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 I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

“Come to me” and “take my yoke upon you” are offers; Jesus is not using force or coercion. “All who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” and “learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls” are His promises that should you take the yoke He offers, not only will you find rest in your day to day life, you will also find rest for your souls. No more worrying about who the current king is or what he will decree—no more concern about what the kingdom will do to destroy your dignity or integrity. But what about the yoke they were already carrying?

The Romans expected their work to be done and their taxes to be paid. Failure to adhere to Roman authority could result in more taxes, enslavement, exile, and even death. The Jews had duties and responsibilities and couldn’t simply forgo their yoke to Rome. On top of that, the Jews were also under the yoke of various Jewish religious authorities who could be almost as oppressive as the Romans. Why would they risk their life to follow a radical rabbi from the little town of Nazareth? How could He show them he was not some charlatan? That He was not just another king, but the King of Kings, the Lord of lords? Christ's entire ministry was focused on answering these questions. He performed signs, wonders, miracles, and exorcisms, and preached, “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand” (Matthew 4:17), but that wasn’t enough. In the ultimate act of kingship, He laid down His yoke, carried ours, and was killed upon it at Calvary.

Christ Carrying The Cross, Attributed to Hans Maler, c.1510

Many to whom Jesus had spoken now understood what He was saying. For those who believed, their yoke was made easy, and their burdens made light because they no longer worked for the glory of Rome but for the glory of the Kingdom of God. They could now rest because they no longer belonged to the oppressive kingdoms that come and go, but belonged now to the eternal Kingdom of God. The King they now served was not a slave-driving, power-hungry tyrant, but a meek and lowly King who sacrificed Himself to prove His love. The lessons they learned then are the lessons I believe God is having me learn now, and He had to stalk me with scripture to teach me.

The difference for us is that most of the oppression in the United States does not come from any form of government but from the acceptance of the idea that we must rely on ourselves. Your marriage, relationships, job, health, and finances must be in perfect order. If they aren’t, it’s your fault, and no one is coming to help you. This is made even worse by having convinced ourselves that we as individuals are more important than anything or anyone else. We are our gods. We serve ourselves. We must be satisfied. This means my marriage is for me, my children’s well-being is for me, my food is for me, my money is for me. Everything is for me and about me, and when there are problems, I’ve got the solutions, and I’ll get all the glory when the problems are solved. In thinking and behaving this way, we set aside the easy, light yoke of Christ and demand to carry the very yoke Christ died to save us from. It does not have to be this way. We can take up the yoke of Christ because He has already taken ours. The work has been done. The war has been won. Worry no more and rest.

In the Kingdom of God, we serve our spouses and work for their holiness. We protect and nurture our children for their holiness. We handle our responsibilities because they are gifts from God for our holiness. God has put people in our lives and given us opportunities to serve Him because when we do these good things, we participate in the work God is doing, and we know this because we know all good things come from God. In short, when we do good things, we are participating in the good works of God, and therefore participating in His Kingdom. In the kingdom of God, we labor out of love because Christ first loved us (1 John 4:19).

For the remainder of this season of Lent, I encourage you to reach out to God. Ask Him to carry your burdens and help you understand how truly easy and light His burden is. Lean into Jesus' kingship. His heart is for you and longs to show you His love.

May Christ be with you and those you love, Amen.