Your Invited to: …The Easy Yoke
A Reflection of the Easy Yoke, Rest, and the Transformation of the Resurrection
One phrase I have really gravitated towards recently, is “The Unforced Rhythms of grace”. How lovely. I can’t take credit for that one. Eugene Peterson so eloquently worded this interpretation of the bible in Matthew, chapter 11: 29 “Learn the unforced rhythms of grace”1. This sounds beautiful, but it took me a really long time to even understand what he meant by this.
For a while, I didn’t think that God's grace had a rhythm. I just thought it was what it was.
Context: This part of Matthew's account of Jesus where he speaks the mantra for us Nervous-Nellies. The heavy hearted of the world. And those of us that shrivel up when something happens outside of our control, and we of course have no control over it. What Jesus describes as “the poor in spirit”.2
Jesus says the words that will be imprinted on my heart daily,
“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.”3
Jesus had just spoken to children and had given thanks to the Father for the ways that his Father has given the uneducated understanding over the things Jesus is revealing to them.
The first part of this is the notion of rhythms. Jesus walked through life in spontaneous rhythms. Throughout Matthew’s account he observes how Jesus often withdrew himself. Whether or not he was an introvert, or extravert. It’s evident that this was something that was necessary, and he craved often. Jesus would go into solitude with his Father, and that was his source of power. A place where only his Father could find him.
And that’s just one of the rhythms that Jesus instilled into his teaching. Given that, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that right after saying that he has an encounter with the Pharisees and teaches on the sabbath, a God-gifted day of rest. Background: if you didn’t keep the Sabbath, it was a big deal! The command from Moses was “Keep the Sabbath Holy”.4 No work, no buying your favorite starbucks drink, no laundry, not even picking berries from the tree.
Again, I think there is purpose in this. These are just two of what are known now as rhythms of Jesus. But they were commonly practiced at this time. Some others you may know would be fasting, prayer, service, and community. Basically, anything that Jesus did without the obvious eating, drinking, or walking (although one could also argue that walking as opposed to running is it’s own).
None of these rhythms were meant or performed to add a bigger load to us. They were not made for us to suffer, but to come to a place where our greatest joy is found in rest. While God commands Sabbath, it isn’t something that is forced on us. And believe me, rest is coming for you one way or another. That sounds threatening, but if we are constantly going and going we are bound to get sick, and HAVE to take rest at one point. I had to do it this week. Because learning to rest physically and with our hearts is a life going process. In this case, As Henry Nouwen puts it’s a, “a lifelong process of surrendering to Jesus.”5
This past year I read two books that were written around this verse. Both transformed my heart in every which way. One of my favorite questions to ask is, if you would recommend one book, what would it be? It’s both of these. But they each attack two different sides of this verse. The two different sides of the unforced rhythm of grace.
One of the books being. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World. Comer argues that “for Jesus, leadership isn’t about coercion and control; it’s about example and invitation”.6
God has never been interested in coercing, or forcing us. He loves us with a pure love and no part of love is forced. A big piece in understanding God’s love is that He has given us full range in choosing to love. His greatest longing is to be with us. To look for community, to go into a place of solitude, even to take a day to rest in delight is to take the invitation of an easy yoke and rest in Jesus.
That’s all that Jesus does. He invites us. He invites us to live a life that is slow, unhurried, restful, and makes room for the things in life that are good. After all, when Martha was full of overwhelming stress in her kitchen, Jesus essentially tells her “You are worried and upset about many things, But your sister has chosen what is good and it will not be taken from her.”7 In relatable moments, I have found that I am worried about all the little details, when God is intimately involved in all those micro details, not just the full picture, but the entirety of it.
One of my favorite quotes from Comer that I have reminded myself of often is this ,” To reinstate: love, joy, and peace are at the heart of what Jesus is trying to grow in the soil of your life. And all three are incompatible with hurry”.3 That’s why they are unforced rhythms of grace, that we get to enter a lifetime of learning, experiencing, growing from.
Which leads me to the later.
The second part of this is the heart behind the rhythms.These rhythms are not just unforced, but they are full of grace. They are to bring us closer to the gentleness and meek heart of Christ. To our Creator, who made and loved us first. In our offering, he desires mercy. He desires our love in return. But to experience the “unforced rhythms of grace”, is to know the true love and nature of Christ’s heart within our bones. For it to run so deep in our roots, that we know we can not function without.
In this passage of Matthew, Jesus responds with gentleness. He says “I desire mercy and not sacrifice”.4 Which was earlier stated in Hosea (so they were well aware). The heart behind the invitation is that God’s heart and response to us is gentle. It is rich in mercy.8
One of my other favorite books that I have found to be transformational is Dane Ortlund’s Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers. In which he has said many beautiful things that I believe to have illustrated Christ’s heart for us. Cover to cover of how kind and benevolent Christ's heart is for us. As I look inwards I sit on this:
“You don’t need to unburden or collect yourself and then come to Jesus. Your very burden is what qualifies you to come. No payment is required; he says, “I will give you rest.” His rest is gift, not transaction. Whether you are actively working hard to crowbar your life into smoothness (“labor”) or passively finding yourself weighed down by something outside your control (“heavy laden”), Jesus Christ’s desire that you find rest, that you come in out of the storm, outstrips even your own”.9
I love how Ortlund says “outstrips even your own”. In examining rest, we eventually come to realization for my soul to receive the rest I crave, I have to forfeit. There have been a good handful of times this semester where what I carried was heavy. My heart wasn’t content. I had no peace. Overwhelmed and burnout would have been an understatement. I was not working from rest, but for it. I needed physical rest, emotional rest, and mental rest. Rest from all my normal rhythms.
What I needed was the easy yoke. I needed to yield here.
This yoke is an unforced invitation that requires intentional seeking.
To rest in His desire for me to find rest. Rest from my hurried life, rest from my own unloveliness, and all the places my mind goes that are still under this yoke. The unforced rhythm of grace is the easy yoke, the restful way to peace and delight.
Each day we experience this our hearts are made new again, and our minds are renewed. We get to joy through our days of subduing the earth with joy. Looking at our days with fresh eyes to see. We get to dwell in the presence of God with peace, even when it makes no sense.
That’s the easy yoke.
Resurrection and our becoming.
But in experiencing the “unforced rhythm of grace” for myself, is to be transformed by it. To live from a rest that can only be found in the gentle arms of the Father. To be shaped closer and closer into an unhurried person of love, who exudes peace and joy everywhere we walk. To be walking, not running with Jesus, is to be coaxed into the free-flowing Spirit that rests on us.
That is the “unforced rhythm of grace” that we would love, and learn to be loved in such a way that radically changes everything about us. And in the unveiling of his character, and having clear eyes to see exactly who He is changes how we think, speak, walk,serve, love, forgive,commune, listen, react, process information,breathe, and live. Literally everything.
And though that sounds like a scary thought, I would venture to say this process may be the most beautiful thing I have ever encountered. Because what I am encountering is the unrushed, steadfast presence of Jesus. And it’s quiet, it’s gentle, it’s loving, and it’s true delight. It’s not transactional, it’s just renovative.
As I think about resurrection I am reminded of many things. New life, the mercy of a loving Father, and honestly the image of what I think of when I think about God? I am reminded to reflect on the God in flesh who denied himself and His life, for me to deny and live mine. But this was never to be a transaction, but an invitation to divine love.
In his book Practicing the Way, John Mark Comer writes,
“ It’s not just about what he has done for us but also about what he has done, is doing, and will do in us if we apprentice under him…It’s about being a person that is not only loved by God but also is pervaded by the love of God…It’s not just accepting the merit of his death but also receiving the power of his resurrection”.10
I think each statement here holds its own in that the resurrecting love of Christ was always meant to be a gift that shapes us. It was always meant to be our easy yoke. The cross was my yoke, but it was never meant to be mine.
As I learn to fall forward into grace, I can’t think of anything better than to become lighter, a person who walks slowly with people, and a person who’s reaction to stress, heartache, and overwhelm is just falling in the comfort of my Fathers grace and mercy.
Lord have mercy that I …
In his book, Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Sinners and Sufferers, Dane Ortlund reminds us of the idea that A.W. Tozer once illustrated which is “what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us”.11 I’m making the broad assumption that when you think about God, this might not be the thing you think of. But what if it was?
As I reflect, and look towards Resurrection day, this holy week. I am reminded of not just the sacrifice, but the way God intimately loved me and delighted in me. He longed for me. That in the richness of who He is, His name has stood the test of time for me. What was true in the very beginning is still true today. That his name is gracious, compassionate, abounding in steadfast love, and slow to anger.12 He has lavished this upon us from the beginning.
What would it look like for my initial thought to be God of gentleness and humility? To me, it would be taking this easy yoke. Day after day, I am seeking and intentionally choosing to rest in Jesus with all the details, rather than feeling the weight of my worries, my to-do list, my hurried schedule, along with all the restlessness that follows.
And when I give him the full yoke, I am renewed. The name I carry becomes freedom, love, and pure delight.
Lately, my image of God isn’t a shepherd, or a mountain, but a vision of peace: Jesus riding into town on a donkey.
King of Israel.
God of peace.
God of my peace.
My resurrection, and yours
My lilies in the desolate place.
My eternal Springtime.
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Unless stated otherwise all scripture is taken from : The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
The Message. Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Matthew 11:28-30
Matthew 5:3
Matthew 11:29
Matthew 12:7
Henry Nouwen.The Way of the Heart: Connecting with God through Prayer, Wisdom, and Silence. Copyright 2003.
John Mark Comer.The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. Copyright (2019).
Luke 10:39-42
Ephesian 2:4
Dane Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers.Copyright 2020.
Comer, John M. Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus, Be like Jesus, Do as He did.(2023).
A. W. Tozer. The Knowledge of the Holy. Copyright 1978.
Exodus 34:5-7
