The Sixth Sunday After Pentecost

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Sixth Sunday After Pentecost

Light of Christ Anglican Church

The Reverend Michael J. Moffitt

July 5, 2026

Are You Burdened? Come To Jesus

Text: Matthew 11:25–30

I once heard a joke about a man who found an Aladdin’s Lamp and as he

rubbed it to clean off the dirt a genie appeared and granted him one wish. The

man thought about it for a moment and then replied, “I wish for a major car

manufacture dealership in a large city. The genie replied, “Very well” and the

man received a Chrysler dealership in downtown Tokyo.

It’s amusing but of course it also caused me to ask myself, “If I had one wish

granted me what would it be?” The answer to that question would reveal a great

deal about my heart and my values, about what I really longed for.

I find our gospel reading from Matthew 11:25–30 as both a comfort and yet a

challenge. Like most of us I know what it’s like to “labor and be heavy laden”

and to seek to find rest. It’s likely that most of us here this morning have

heard the passage many times, but I want to read it again in the The Message, a

paraphrase of God’s word.

Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer: “Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and

earth. You’ve concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls but

spelled them out clearly to ordinary people. Yes, Father, that’s the way you

like to work.”

Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly. “The Father has given

me all these things to do and say. This is a unique Father-Son operation,

coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge. No one knows

the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But

I’m not keeping it to myself; I’m ready to go over it line by line with anyone

willing to listen.”

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away

with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk

with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms

of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with

me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

I really like the way that Eugene Peterson, the author of the The Message unpacks

this passage. Most people have learned the art of hiding those things that

really take us down. Things like the sense of failure, self-loathing, feelings of

unworthiness, and shame. Life can be so difficult and yet Jesus invites those who

are weak, weary and without hope to come to him and take his yoke upon them.

This sounds great but what does it mean and how do we appropriate this yoke?

Also, how does being yoked to anything bring relief from weariness or a heavy

burden? I know what a yoke is but if we’re to understand what Jesus was

teaching we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus begins our passage in Matthew 11 by praising the Father, the Lord of

heaven and earth, acknowledging that the Father’s sovereign purposes were

hidden from those who considered themselves wise and full of understanding

but revealed to those who were like little children. Jesus finds joy that turns to

praise in the communication that he has with the Father.

Jesus makes very clear, yet extraordinary claims here. He knows that he will

be departing soon to return to his Father in heaven. In the meantime he will be

about the Father’s business and preparing his disciples for his departure.

The Father’s plans for all things would be delivered to and through the Son. So in

our passage Jesus, the Son of man, prepares to live into the role that he will play

to bring salvation and redemption to those who the Father will give him. We can

see this in John 6:37, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever

comes to me I will never cast out.”

He alone possesses the complete knowledge of the Father, and only the Father

truly knows him. Because his knowledge is equal to the Father, Jesus’ Sonship

is unique. Jesus points out that all this would come to pass because, it was the

Father’s gracious will. Think for a moment the extraordinary claims that Jesus,

the Son of God made and how they would have been received by those who

heard him teach.

• There are no secrets between the Father and the Son.

• There is no one who knows the Son as well as the Father does.

• There is no one who knows the Father as well as the Son does.

• The Son chooses to reveal the Father to some.

There is an important difference in the way that the Son knows the Father, and

the way we may know Him. We know God the Father because He condescends

to stoop low to us to make Himself known. David the Psalmist praised the Lord

who had delivered him from his enemies in Psalm 18:35. “You make your saving

help my shield, and your right hand sustains me; your help has made me great.”

Think of all the ways that God revealed his presence to the children of Israel.

God the Son knows God the Father because they are equal in nature, completely

compatible with one another. Because the Son is sovereign in revealing God, he

has the authority to invite people to himself. Because Jesus is gentle and humble

(lowly in heart) he extends his invitation first to the weary and burdened and

then to the strong and comfortable.

With that brief background let’s now consider what Jesus was actually offering in

verses 28–30. Listen again:

“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. For my yoke is easy,

and my burden is light.”

This verse is often quoted but I suspect it’s rarely embraced or understood in the

way that Jesus was teaching it.

The idea of a yoke is not as common in the modern western world, but we’ve

all probably seen examples of a yoke used in plowing a field with oxen or other

animals like a mule or work horse. Actually, there may be some here who haven’t

seen an actual example because today the plowing of fields is done by machinery.

Most of us have at least seen on TV shows or movies examples of two or more

strong animals like oxen pulling a heavy load. In an example the ox (or oxen)

would have a heavy beam across their necks with reins attached so the farmer

could guide the plow assuring straight rows for the crop.

In the illustration that Jesus used it doesn’t sound like a burden being removed.

Instead it seems that maybe one burden is removed only to be yoked again to a

different heavy load. So why would anyone subject themselves to this?

Jesus was teaching that our focus isn’t to be on the yoke but on the expert

guidance of the farmer. With his reins he leads the oxen so the burden of getting

somewhere or plowing straight lines no longer falls to the oxen. That’s the

burden of the one guiding with the reins.

The oxen are to pull the load which is something they are well equipped to do. In

those times that the oxen seek to go a different way the farmer is able to keep him

straight because the ox or oxen is yoked and under firm guidance of the farmer.

Someone may ask, “What if the ox refuses to obey the guidance of the farmer?”

The farmer will remove the willful ox from his farm as he now has no right to be

there. As it relates to people Matthew has already addressed this issue in chapter

7:21, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of

heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

One of the burdens laid upon the Israelites was the burden of the law in Torah as

well as the Talmud. The Torah (first five books in the Old Testament, Pentateuch)

containing the law of God as given to Moses on Mount Sinai but the Talmud was

a collection of rabbinic debates on how the Torah’s lessons were to be followed.

This had become a very heavy and exacting burden as the religious leaders were

always striving to use the added demands of Talmud as if it carried as much

authority as Torah. It was impossible to perfectly keep the Talmud, and it was

impossible to perfectly keep the law.

Jesus wasn’t offering independence but a different yoke. His yoke would be

easy, and his burden was light not because it is less demanding but because it’s

administered by a shepherd desiring a personal relationship, rather than the

impersonal harshness of the law divorced from the lawgiver. Jesus the Lord of

the Sabbath offers rest.

David Guzik in his Commentary on Matthew quotes 18th century Theologian

Adam Clarke,

...the ancient Jews commonly used the idea of yoke to express someone’s

obligation to God. There was the yoke of the kingdom, the yoke of the law,

the yoke of the command, the yoke of repentance, the yoke of faith, and the

general yoke of God. In this context, it is easy to see Jesus simplifying and

saying, “Forget about all those other yokes. “Take My yoke upon you and

learn from Me.”

Everyone is yoked to something or someone. In Matthew 11, Jesus offers the

invitation to accept his authority and lordship by being yoked to him. Jesus, the

giver of the law knows that Torah is not hard, heavy, or a burden. It’s the true

perspective of God’s word that teaches us how to implement it.

The truth is that we all are going to be yoked by something. We may believe that

we are un-yoked and free but that is simply not the case. By rejecting the yoke of

Jesus we will end up being bound, yoked and in bondage to the one who refused

to honor the Lord and became his enemy.

In our epistle reading from Romans 7:21–8:6 the Apostle Paul dealt with this

dichotomy between the flesh (sinful side) and life yoked to the Holy Spirit. Even

the apostle found himself embroiled in the war between the desires of the flesh

and his desire to be free of that by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

I can remember reading this passage a long time ago and in some sense I was

grateful to find out that the war within me was all a part of living in a fallen

world just like the apostle. It also reminded me that I could not rest easily

because I was sinful and without hope. Just like this great servant of Christ in

the early church, I had no hope in my own righteousness. Just like the Apostle

Paul hope would be found only in Jesus Christ. Without Him I stand condemned

because of my unrighteousness.

The cry of Romans 7:24 resonated with me and I could easily join in that lament,

“O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

Then came the relief I was longing for in 7:24–25, “Thanks be to God through

Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but

with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”

I love that the Apostle Paul, who was a serious and gifted scholar of God’s word,

acknowledged that without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit he was without

hope. All of his great learning could not set him free from the sin nature. Though

he was the disciple of Jesus Christ sent to the Gentiles all that he had to offer

them was Jesus Christ, crucified, resurrected, and ascended back to the Father.

He had found out that this was all that anyone needed. He had been exceedingly

religious as a Pharisee of Pharisee’s but had been in bondage to his own arrogance and pride. Exchanging the yoke of the law for the yoke given by Jesus

Christ changed everything.

One of my favorite Psalms on this change brought about by following where the

Lord leads is Psalm 23. By following the Lord as our “Shepherd” we have the

assurance that we’re on the right path. Psalm 23:3, “He restores my soul. He leads

me in paths of righteousness for his names sake.”

It’s the next part in chapter 8:1–4 that revealed to me the reason I should be

yoked to Jesus Christ alone. This is what Jesus accomplished on the cross that the

condemnation that I deserved had been dealt with through His sacrifice. That

alone satisfied the holy demands of the Father that led to reconciliation. It’s no

wonder that Paul rejoiced in the Gospel message that;

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

It is so important that we not forget this assurance. The simple declaration of no

condemnation comes to those who are in Christ Jesus. Since God the Father

does not condemn Jesus, neither can the Father condemn those who are in Jesus.

They are not condemned, they will not be condemned, and they cannot be

condemned. Charles Spurgeon suggested that it’s helpful if we see this truth

another way.

We perhaps need to consider the flip side: If you are not in Jesus Christ, there

is condemnation for you. It is no pleasant task to us to have to speak of this

matter; but who are we that we should ask for pleasant tasks? What God

hath witnessed in Scripture is the sum and substance of what the Lord’s

servants are to testify to the people. If you are not in Christ Jesus, and are

walking after the flesh, you have not escaped from condemnation.

Then the Apostle shares the reason for condemnation to be removed for those

who by faith have turned to Jesus as Savior and Lord. Romans 8:3–4,

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By

sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he

condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of

the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but

according to the Spirit.

Paul contrasts living according to the flesh with living according to the Spirit.

Those who live according to the flesh are dominated by sinful desires, whereas

those who live according to the Spirit are guided by God’s power to pursue

righteousness.

This transformation is not merely moral effort but a spiritual renewal that

enables believers to fulfill God’s law in practice, reflecting the inner change

Christ brings. When this is true for those who have become Christ followers then

circumstances, whether good or very bad, don’t determine our faithfulness to

God. The Apostles were great examples of those who followed Christ through

good times or times of extreme persecution. Either way Jesus was their Lord and

Master. Being yoked to Him brought joy and freedom from condemnation.

Let’s pray.