The Yoke of Humility and Meekness

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Matthew 11:28-30  Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and humble in heart; and you shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

First let’s take a look at the quality of this yoke Jesus is talking about.  He said his yoke is “easy.”  This is the Greek word chreestos, is used 7 times in the New Testament, and is translated 6 different ways!  I really have no idea what the translators of the King James Version were thinking, or why they couldn’t get on the same page when they translated this word, but here they did us a great disservice.

Chreestos is translated “easy,” “kind,” “goodness,” “better,” “good,” and “gracious.”  So, does that word now make sense?  Doesn’t for me either!  The root word of chreestos is chraomai, (a verb) and is used 11 times in the New Testament, and is always translated “use,” except for one instance where it is translated “entreat.”  It simply means to use anything for gain, or to help obtain a desired or a better result; exactly the word we would use for using a tool.  I might go up to my carpenter son and say, “Here, use this instead, it’s a better tool for the job and it’ll help make your job a lot easier.”

So chreestos should always be translated “useful.”  This yoke Jesus is talking about is useful.  He then goes on to say that his burden is  “light,” meaning not heavy.  These two expressions, “my yoke is easy (useful)” and “my burden is light” do not mean the same thing.  Jesus is telling his listeners that his yoke, the yoke which he himself has, is so useful that it makes the load (mental, emotional, psychological) he had to carry actually easy to bear!  I myself have discovered the truth of what Jesus said here.  My burdens are really quite light, as long as I have on myself the same yoke Jesus had on himself.

You are probably familiar with the concept of a yoke.  It was a wooden mantel placed over the shoulders or necks of two oxen (or any animals), binding them together in labor, so that the work of both animals would be harmonious.  The yoke kept them from working against one another, rather harnessing together their efforts to produce a concerted, more focused result.  Often, a younger, less experienced animal was yoked together with an older, more experienced animal, to aid in the younger’s training.  The yoke was “useful” in unifying the efforts of the two animals, making them like one!

There is also another, cultural meaning in Jesus’ use of the term “take my yoke upon you.”  When a young Hebrew man was at a point his life where he was ready to dedicate his life to the Word of God and commit his future religious and Scriptural training to a specific rabbi, or teacher, he would be invited by that rabbi into an internship by the invitation, “Take my yoke and follow after me.”  This “yoke” referred to that rabbi’s specific manner in which he approached, interpreted and understood the Scriptures.  Taking on the yoke of a master rabbi was a serious commitment.

The young student had to leave his father, mother, community and synagogue, and live under (and with) his rabbi.  The rabbi, at that point, had authority over his student even more than the parents.  The life of the student would be very challenging and every day he would be taught in the ways of his master.  His life would be devoted to learning and becoming like him.

Jesus had taken on the yoke of his Master, God, and here was inviting those who hungered for the truth of God to follow him and his own unique understanding of Scripture, which he claimed came directly from his Father, God.

John 8:28b  … I do nothing of myself; but as my Father has taught me, I speak these things.

John 5:19  Then responded Jesus and said unto them, Verily verily I say unto you, the son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do; for whatever things He does, these also does the son likewise.

John 5:30  I can of my own self do nothing; as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just; because I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father Who has sent me.

John 10:30  I and my Father are one.

Jesus was yoked to his Father’s “interpretation” of Scripture and never tried to figure it out on his own.  If his Father did not teach him, he did not know.  Today, if the spirit of Christ is not in the interpretation of God’s Word and will, then that understanding is not of God.

John 17:20-23  Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe unto me through their word.  That they all may be one; as You, Father, are in me, and I in You, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that You have sent me.  And the glory which You gave me I have given them; they they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and You in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that You have sent me, and have loved them, as You have loved me.

This speaks of how closely we can be yoked to God by being yoked to the spirit of Christ within.

Philippians 2:13  For it is God who works within you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

God doesn’t just tell us what He wants and then leave us to figure it out and do it on our own.  He’ll supply whatever we need to do what He wills, but this is only true if we are yoked together with God, like Jesus was.  But how did Jesus yoke himself to his Father, God?  By meekness and humility.

Humility means being low, less than.  Humility acknowledges the higher quality or state of another.  Humility is not of itself a spiritual trait.  In fact, it’s the natural man who needs to humble himself before God.  How we take this yoke of humility upon ourselves is by living in the acknowledging of the need for what only God can supply…. because we can’t!   I’ll let you make your own list of needs you can’t supply yourself.

The very first use of the word “humility” is found in Matthew 11:29, which we read above.  Jesus called himself humble, for he is the example of humility.  To acknowledge God as greater than ourselves is so useful!

James 4:6b  … God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble.

I Peter 5:5b  … and be clothed with humility; for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.

God supplies generously to those whose hearts are open to Him, whose thoughts are that God is greater than they are, and that only He can do what they cannot.  Humility accepts as true in life and in practice what God says and what God supplies.  So when God says,

Romans 3:21  But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for the is no difference (between Jew & Gentile).

then I in humility accept this as true, and as a gift from God.  I have what God says I have.  I conscientiously stop trying to earn my rightness by my fleshly mind and works, instead going to Jesus Christ for all my needs for rightness.  If I am not humble, I keep trying to do it on my own.

Some think of me as self-righteous because I accept my righteousness from God as a gift given me through the work of Jesus Christ.  I am not self-righteous, I am humble to God and believe what He says.  I don’t just believe it on Sunday in church.  I believe it when I make mistakes, when I inadvertently hurt the people I love, when I blow it big time!  That is when His righteousness makes me whole, whenever I with the yoke of humility to God affirm His truth in my life and heart.

And when I do, there comes a lightness of being.  It’s not only easier being me, it’s actually exciting, fulfilling and glorious!  Instead of being alone, I am lifted up by His presence.  In place of self-loathing is God’s healing love for me.  Instead of shame there is glory; instead of destruction there is growth!  Instead of hopelessness and regret there is thankfulness and excited anticipation.  My burdens are made light!

Humility allows you to see and understand what is and what is not of God, for when a thought or spirit or feeling cannot be subjected under God, it is because it is not of God.

II Corinthians 10:5  Casting down logical reasonings, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowing of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Any of our thinking which will not humble itself to God is not to be argued with or reasoned with.  Don’t even try to change it.  It is to be simply cast down (thrown or cast away from oneself).  The influence of devil spirits, which will never humble themselves before God, is not to be trifled with.  Once recognized, throw it away.  Find something else which will humble itself to God…..and this is where meekness comes in.

Meekness is possible because of humility and differs in that it is a spiritual quality.  While humility positions you to receive from God, meekness is how you receive, by being able to see life from others’ points of view.   A meek person is one who can grasp and relate to many differing points of view, and its spiritual quality actually separates out the truth and practicality in each point of view (if there are any).  Meekness makes another person’s point of view useful to us!

Meekness equips us with the benefit of others’ ways of thinking which have been successfully born out by experience, inspired by God and born of Christ.  Meekness is how we grow and flourish.  Meekness is not weakness; rather, it infuses us with the spiritual strengths of others!   Meekness is how we will inherit the earth!

Matthew 5:5  Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

This is an amazing statement.  Jesus was speaking to Israel, to whom had been promised, via the promise God gave Abraham, that they would inherit the world.  So you might think Jesus would have said, “Blessed is Israel, for they shall inherit the earth.”  But he didn’t.  Here Jesus was teaching how the earth was to be inherited.  By meekness!

In their lifetime, most people have only one way of thinking, of processing, of deciding, of prioritizing.  Some aspects of each way of thinking work, others do not.  Could a certain aspect be improved?  Are any of these aspects good?  Should any of them be thrown out?  It’s difficult to know, because I only have one way I’ve ever thought!  But now, by way of the spirit of God to which I have humbled myself, meekness (a fruit of that spirit) enters my life.   I now have the ability to connect with the way every other person thinks and sees things …. to learn from, try out, compare and grow thereby; to understand, know by experience and relate to.   I even have the way Christ himself thinks at my disposal!

I Corinthians 2:15, 16  But he that is spiritual discerns all things, yet he himself is discerned of no man (as a spiritual being).  For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? (this is an Old Testament quote, which is answered by the next phrase).  But we have the mind of Christ!

The yoke of Jesus, how he tied his thoughts and heart to God’s, was by meekness and humility.  And by the spirit within, Christ gives us the power to take that same yoke upon ourselves.  This yoke is so useful in so many ways, with the end result being that the burden of our lives and souls becomes extremely easy to carry.  I encourage you to develop humility to God and to explore the meekness by which you will grow and expand in your spiritual abilities and lay hold of your inheritance as a child of God.
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