Matthew 11:28-29

Pulpit Commentary
In close connection with the preceding (11:1-24), In Matthew 11:25-30 Christ professes his
full acceptance of his Father’s plan and says that all his works are conditioned by the Father.

Verse 28: An invitation to all who need him, and an unconditioned promise of welcome.
Verse 29: A summons to submit to his teaching, and a promise that those who do so shall find
rest in it.
Verse 30: For his service is perfect freedom.

Notice the sharp contrast between the width of this invitation and the apparent limitation of the
preceding statement (verse 27). The truths of prevenient grace and man's free-will may not be
separated.

Mat. 11:28

Come in Mat. 4:19 There is less thought of the process of coming than in the very similar
invitation in Joh. 7:37.

Unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden. The toilers and burdened. Our Lord purposely
did not define in what the toil and burden consisted; for he would include all, from whatever
quarter their toil and burden came. But since the spiritual is the central part of man (Mat. 5:3,
note), the more that the toil or burden is felt there so much the stronger would our Lord's
reference to it be. He would therefore be inviting most especially those that toil in legal ways
of righteousness (Rom. 10:2, Rom. 10:3), and are burdened under Pharisaic enactments (Luk.
11:46).

And I. Emphatic. However others may treat you.

Will give you rest, refers to temporary rather than permanent cessation from work, and it thus
especially connotes refreshment of body and soul obtained through such rest.

The thought, therefore, here is not that those who come to Christ will have no more work, but
that Christ will give them at once such rest and refreshment of soul that they may be fit for
work, should God have any in store for them.

Mat. 11:29-30

Mat. 11:29, Mat. 11:30 have so much in common with both the language and the thought of Ec
51:26, 27, that probably this passage was in our Lord's mind. It is noteworthy that most of the
other signs of acquaintance with Ecclesiasticus are found in the Epistle of St. James.

Take my yoke upon you. For there is work to be done, therefore enter on it. The yoke is the
service that Christ gives us to do, and therefore implies more than his teaching. This, however,
is so important a part of his service, both in itself and as being the means of knowing what he
wishes done, that Christ speaks of it as though almost identical with his yoke.

And learn of me. The figure of the oxen passes into that of the scholars. The "of" is slightly
ambiguous, and may refer to Christ as the Example from which they may draw the lesson for
themselves (Mat. 24:32), or as the Teacher who will himself instruct them (Col. 1:7). The
second meaning is more suitable here. (For the thought, comp. Joh. 8:31.) For. The reason why
they should learn from him and no other teacher. He alone was what he claimed to teach,
therefore he alone could teach it properly, and therefore from him alone could they learn that
type of character which they ought to develop.

I am. Observe the claim. It is almost greater than that of verse 27.

Meek. Primarily, as regards God (Mat. 5:5, note). Receiving in my degree whatever yoke my
Father puts on me.

And lowly in heart. As regards men. Observe that meek and lowly correspond, though the order
is reversed, to "He humbled himself and became obedient". In heart (Mat. 5:8, note). "Lowly
in heart" very nearly corresponds to "he that is of a lowly spirit." Such a person as Christ's
experience shows (Php. 2:9) "shall obtain honour" (Pro. 29:23).

And ye shall find rest unto your souls. In this learning and service. The words are taken from
Jer. 6:16, where they form the promise given to

those that ask for the old paths and walk in the good way of the Divine commandments. But
these roads were now more clearly made known in Christ. Observe the full force of the two
expressions, I will give you rest (Jer. 6:28), and Ye shall find rest. The tired comers are at once
refreshed by Christ; these accept his service and teaching, and in performing it find further rest.
The first rest may be termed the peace of justification; the second, that of sanctification. Both
are obtained through Christ alone, yet they are not to be confused, much less identified, with
one another.

For. The fact of my giving work will not prevent this rest, but the contrary.

My yoke is easy. And so are God's judgments (Psa. 119:39, ' Psalms of Solomon,' 8:38).
Contrast Ecclesiasticus 28:19, 20.

And my burden is light. For "his commandments are not grievous" (1Jn. 5:3).

Lesson

1. He invites all.

He had said that no man could know the Father unless the Son willed to reveal him. But God
willed that all men should be saved. Christ Jesus gave himself a Ransom for all; now he invites
all. He knew that not all would come; not all felt the need of a Saviour; therefore he addresses
those that labour and are heavy laden. There is much toil in this life of ours —endless,
unsatisfactory toil; the poor toil hard for their daily bread; the rich toil in the life of ambition
or literature, or in the pursuit of pleasure. That toil will only end in weariness. "Vanity of
vanities, saith the Preacher; all is vanity." Many, too, are heavy laden, some with the cares of
this life, some with pain and sickness, some with the consciousness of sin. All such the gracious
Saviour calls.

2. He bids them come to himself.

There is need of effort in the spiritual life. Men must not lie still, listless, lukewarm, indifferent.
They must come. Coming implies spiritual effort; there must be thought, meditation, earnest
prayer, a diligent use of all the appointed means of grace. We must rouse up our souls. The
prodigal son would never have recovered his lost home if he had remained in the far country.
He said," I will arise, and go." And we must come to Christ. He himself the Centre of his
religion. It is not a philosophy, or a code of morals, or a theology, that is to save our souls; it is
a Person—the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He can give rest to the weary; he can refresh the
toiling, anxious soul; he can give peace to the mind distracted by bewildering doubts. None
could dare say this but only God. Put the words into the mouth of St. Paul or St. John, or any
the very greatest of saints; for them to say such things would be arrogant, presumptuous in the
extremist degree. But from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ those great words were only the
simple truth, words of tenderness and lowliness. The very fact that he stood there in human
form, that he uttered those words in human language, that he had submitted to contradiction
and rejection, proved his lowliness, his condescension. It would be far otherwise were he not,
what we know that he was, the Almighty God.

3. His yoke and his burden.

But these who would come to him must take up his yoke and his burden. And his yoke is
obedience, and his burden is the cross. The yoke seems irksome at first; but we must learn of
him. He himself learned obedience by the things which he suffered. And he is meek and lowly
in heart. He will teach by his example, by the voice of his Spirit speaking in the soul, all who
come to him. He will teach them ever deeper lessons of the calm peace of submission of will,
the sweetness of holy obedience. The cross seems at first a heavy burden, sharp and hard to
bear. But the Lord Jesus, who himself bore the cross for us in his blessed love, helps his
suffering people. He bears the cross for them; he lifts it on their shoulders; he supports it by his
strength; and in time the heavy burden comes to be light, according to his gracious promise.
He bids us take up our cross daily; only thus can we follow him. He goes before his people,
leading the way to the everlasting rest. Those who follow him shall find rest; rest even here—
the restfulness of trusting faith; and at the last, rest in the Paradise of God, where the holy dead
rest from their labours; where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.

Conclusion

Let us come to Christ as little children; to such he revealed the deep truths of religion.

He invites all to come to him. Let us come. None can give rest, but only he.

Let us take up the cross. We must, if we would follow him. Men would separate the cross from
the crown; the thing is impossible. God hath joined them together; they cannot be put asunder.
Mat. 11:28-30 The yoke of rest.

It is a common mistake to divide these verses and to quote the first of them —the invitation to
the weary—without the others, which are really essential to the practical comprehension of
Christ's method of giving rest; because it is in the conclusion of the whole passage that we
discover how we may obtain rest from Christ. We must, therefore, look both at the blessing
offered and at the means by which this blessing may be obtained.

I. THE BLESSING IS REST.

1. In what it consists. The soul of man in weariness and unrest craves for peace and repose.
This is more than the outward calm of quiet circumstances. Many have that who are victims to
a storm of unrest within —ship-wrecked sailors tossing on the waves of their own passions.
The true rest is not idleness. While the heart is at rest the hand may be at work. We can never
work so well as with a restful mind. Neither is this rest a state of mental torpor. The mind may
be wide awake, but calm and at peace—like the sea when its waves are still, and yet its deep
waters teem with life, and great fleets sweep over its surface.

2. For whom it is designed. Those who labour and are heavy laden. Some people are naturally
restful, constitutionally placid. But Christ desires to bring rest to troubled souls. He has
sympathy for the toiling multitude; he brings peace to those whose lives are burdened. This
may apply especially
to those whose toil is inward—in the effort to overcome temptation, and who are heavily laden
with the weight of sin.

II. THE BLESSING OF REST IS TO BE OBTAINED BY WEARING THE YOKE OF

CHRIST.

1. A personal approach to Christ. Jesus begins his words to the weary with the gracious
invitation, "Come unto me." Let not any heartbroken, despondent person hold back in fear, for
the invitation is just for him. "Arise; the Master calleth thee!" But he cannot receive the blessing
until he goes to Christ. Rest begins in personal contact with Christ.

2. Submitting to the rule of Christ. Some have thought that by his reference to the yoke our
Lord meant to indicate that the weary might yoke themselves to him, and that he and his tired
disciple might walk under the same yoke—the greater part of the weight of which he would
bear. Certainly there is some yoke to be borne by Christ's disciple. We do not escape from
restlessness by plunging into lawlessness and self-will. On the contrary, our self-will is the
source of our deepest unrest. When this is conquered we shall be at peace. Therefore the service
of Christ, which involves the suppression of self, is the way of inward restfulness. To bear his
yoke, nay, even to carry his cross, is to find rest. While we look for personal comfort and escape
from duty, we are miserable and restless; when we cease to think of our own ease and give
ourselves up to Christ's service, to bear his yoke, we find peace.

3. Following in the way of Christ. They who would have rest must learn of Christ. Then the
rest does not come in a moment. It will be obtained just in the degree in which the great lesson
is learnt. Further, this is a lesson in meekness and lowliness. Then rest will come in proportion
as we become meek and lowly like Christ
Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament
Gracious Invitation (11:28–30)

Matthew 11:28–30 is one of the most memorable passages in all of Scripture. Here Jesus turns
from taking solace in God’s sovereignty to an appeal for people to come to him. This verse is
thoroughly and strikingly Christocentric. If people come to know the Father only through Jesus,
it is only fitting for Jesus to invite them to come to him and to promise that he will give them
rest as they take his yoke upon themselves.3 Jesus takes on the role of God in fulfilling the
promises of rest,4 based on God’s rest after creation as the model for Israel’s rest on the Sabbath
(Gen. 2:2; Exod. 20:10–11; 31:15; 35:2). The appeal is stated in a twofold manner: Jesus invites
people (1) to come to him (cf. Matt. 4:19; 22:4) and (2) to take his yoke upon them (Maher
1975) and learn from him. Both invitations are followed by promises of rest (with allusion to
Jer. 6:16 in Matt. 11:29d), and there is additional incentive provided in the description of
Jesus’s yoke and burden in 11:30. In short, the invitation is to a life of following Jesus’s
teaching and example of humility and gentleness (cf. 5:5), symbolized by the yoke.

Jesus’s promise of rest is likely an allusion to Exod. 33:14b. The language of rest and an easy
yoke is similar to the way wisdom (cf. Matt. 11:19; 23:34) was spoken of in Sir. 6:23–31;
24:19; 51:23–27, which develops the personification of wisdom found in Prov. 8:1–21, 32–36;
9:4–6. There may be an implied contrast to the yoke (cf. Acts 15:10; Gal. 5:1) and burden (cf.
Matt. 23:4; Luke 11:46) of Pharisaism here. The writ- ten Torah is not a heavy burden, but the
Pharisaic oral traditions have encumbered those who wish to obey the Torah (cf. Matt. 15:3–
9). As the ultimate interpreter of Torah (5:17–48), Jesus fulfils the role of wisdom and is the
sole agent to provide rest for the people of God.

It is oxymoronic, if not paradoxical, to speak of an easy yoke and a light burden. Jesus did not
endorse the oral traditions of the Pharisees, which could obscure the weightier matters of the
law (cf. 15:3–20; 23:16–24). But Jesus’s yoke is not less rigorous than that of the Pharisees,
since the righteousness he requires surpasses that of the Pharisees (5:20). Jesus is the sole
revealer of the Father, and he, not the Pharisees, is the definitive teacher of the Torah (5:17–
48). He is gentle and humble (Good 1999) whereas they are proud and ostentatious (6:1–18;
23:1–12). Their traditions obscure and even transgress the obligations demanded by the Torah
(15:3, 6), but Jesus gets to the heart of the Torah by stressing its weightier matters. The heart
of the oxymoron is that his focus on weightier matters leads to a lighter yoke (cf. 1 John 5:3).
(See H. Betz 1967; Deutsch 1987; Janzen 1987; Maher 1975; Stanton 1992b: 364–77.)

The way in which Jesus links the sovereignty of God (Matt. 11:25–27) to an appeal for human
decision (11:28–30) is striking. In the history of the church, polarization on these two areas of
its doctrine has occurred regularly. Some teachers emphasize the sovereignty of God and

others stress human responsibility. But since biblical texts often speak of these matters side by
side (e.g., Gen. 50:20; Acts 2:23; 13:48; 2 Tim. 2:10), it seems foolish to attempt to separate
them. Ultimately, it is due only to the sovereign grace of God that sinners repent and believe
in Jesus. This grace operates only through the message of the gospel of Jesus. When the gospel
is rejected, followers of Jesus can only reaffirm God’s sovereignty and continue to offer the
gospel. People come to faith for two reasons: ultimately, because of God’s purpose in election
and, instrumentally, because they have heard the gospel. The missional church must continue
to rest in the sovereignty of God and the sufficiency of the gospel to bring people to faith.
Matthew 11 is the first of three passages contrasting belief and unbelief. Here, two examples
of unbelief (11:2–19; 11:20–24) are followed by an example of belief (11:25–30). Opposition
to Jesus and his messengers has been increasing throughout Matthew’s narrative (2:16; 3:7;
4:1; 5:10–12; 7:6; 8:20, 34; 9:3, 11, 34; 10:14–39). But as Matt. 11 concludes, the situ- ation
has become unmistakably grim. The kingdom is being violently attacked by people who
obstinately refuse its authority (11:12, 16–24). Nevertheless, the Son has revealed the Father
to certain “childlike” people whose weariness has compelled them to find rest in assuming
Jesus’s yoke (11:25–30; cf. 10:42; 18:1–10; 25:40). Those who are wise in their own eyes will
all the more reject this humbling message as Matthew’s narrative unfolds the second (12:1–21)
and third (12:22–50) sets of un- belief and belief passages (cf. 9:12; 12:2, 10, 24; 18:6; 25:45).