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Summary
- Jesus invites all who “labour and are heavy laden” to come to him for rest, to take his yoke and to learn from him, and Matthew is the only one of the four Gospels that records it.
- A yoke was the wooden bar that rested on the necks of working animals, usually a pair, and Scripture uses it as a picture both of slavery and of God’s law.
- Jewish writing already spoke of a good yoke: the book of Sirach, written between 190 and 170 BC, invites readers to put their neck under wisdom’s yoke and find rest, and the later Mishnah speaks of accepting “the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven” in the daily Shema.
- Jesus keeps the yoke and the burden but calls them easy and light; “easy” translates the Greek chrēstos, which means mild, pleasant or kind, and “light” means light in weight.
- Christians have heard the weariness differently: the New American Bible’s notes see the law as the scribes and Pharisees expounded it, John Chrysostom saw anxiety, sorrow and sin, and John Calvin saw the burden of sin.
- The invitation follows Jesus’ prayer in Matthew 11:25-27, where he says only the Son knows the Father, and comes just before two disputes about the Sabbath; the 1928 Book of Common Prayer sets “Come unto me” first among the Comfortable Words said after the confession at Communion.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture is quoted from the King James Version, from BibleGateway: Matthew 11:3, 11:20, 11:25–30, 12:1, 12:8, 5:5, 21:5 and 23:2–4; Mark 6:3; Luke 6:35, 11:46 and 14:19; 2 Corinthians 4:17; 1 Peter 2:3; 1 John 5:3; Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 9:4; Jeremiah 5:5, 6:16 and 28:13; Lamentations 3:27. Sirach 51:23–27 is quoted from the Douay-Rheims Bible, 1899 American edition (Ecclesiasticus 51:31–35).
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Matthew, chapter 11, New American Bible, Revised Edition, with notes, and Sirach, chapter 51.
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Daily Readings for 12 June 2026 and 7 June 2024 (Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus) and 5 July 2026 (Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time).
- Orthodox Church in America, Scripture Readings for 17 January 2025 and 2026.
- Bible Hub, Matthew 11:28–30 Greek interlinear with the New American Standard Bible, and Joseph Henry Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), entries kopiaō, phortizō, anapauō, praus, chrēstos, phortion and elaphros.
- Burton Scott Easton, Yoke, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ed. James Orr (1939 edition).
- Francis Gigot, Ecclesiasticus, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 5 (1909).
- Mishnah Berakhot 2:2 and Pirkei Avot 3:5, in the translation of Joshua Kulp (Mishnah Yomit), on Sefaria: Berakhot 2:2 and Avot 3:5.
- Kaufmann Kohler, Kingdom of God, and Solomon Schechter and Wilhelm Bacher, Judah I., The Jewish Encyclopedia (1901–1906).
- Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, chapter 88, trans. Marcus Dods and George Reith, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1 (1885); dating from Jules Lebreton, St. Justin Martyr, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 8 (1910).
- John Chrysostom, Homily 38 on Matthew, trans. George Prevost, rev. M. B. Riddle, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 10 (1888).
- Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 20 on the New Testament (Sermon 70 in the Benedictine numbering), on Matthew 11:28–30, trans. R. G. MacMullen, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 6 (1888).
- John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, vol. 2: Matthew 11:25–30, trans. William Pringle, Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
- The Book of Common Prayer (1928), The Order for the Administration of the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion, Society of Archbishop Justus.
- Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language (1828), entries Comfortable and Travail.
- Handel and Haydn Society, Handel, Messiah: texts (libretto by Charles Jennens).
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