Freedom and the Easy Yoke.

Working my way through Matthew, I recently preached on Jesus and the Law. One of the points I made there is that we need to avoid jumping at easy conclusions that fail to account for all the evidence. We don’t want to be like the well meaning constable who arrives on the crime scene, spots the suicide note, and pronounces the case solved.

Speaking of evidence that must be accounted for, there is this from Hosea:

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. As they called them, so they went from them; they sacrificed to the Baals, and burned incense to carved images. I taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by their arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love, and I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them. (Hosea 11.1-4.)

Hosea 11.1 is well known because Matthew says it was fulfilled when God brought Jesus as a child out of Egypt (Mat 2.15). But what caught my attention in this passage is that God describes the giving of the law as the lifting of a yoke from Israel’s neck (Hos 11.4). The law was “gentle cords” and “bands of love” (Hos 11.4). The hard yoke taken off (or at least that God attempted to take off) was the yoke of idolatry and slavery (Hos 11.2-3).

Hosea 11.4 seems to be one of the verses (along with Jeremiah 6.16) behind Jesus’ invitation and promise:

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 light. (Mat 11.28-29.)

That Hosea 11.4 is in view is supported not only by the similarity of language and imagery, but also, significantly, by Matthew’s previously referenced statement that Hosea 11.1 was fulfilled in the early life of Jesus (Mat 2.15). Matthew is not simply noting a curiosity, he is introducing his central story line, which is that Jesus is true Israel and thus will relive Israel’s history in his life and ministry. So as Israel was called out of Egypt, Jesus was called out of Egypt; as Israel was tempted in the wilderness, Jesus was tempted in the wilderness; as Moses was forty days without food or water, Jesus was forty days without food or water; and just as Moses gave the law to Israel at Mt Sinai, so Jesus will give the law to his disciples at a mountain.

Accepting God’s own interpretation of Sinai as expressed in Hosea 11.1-4 , we can better understand Israel’s experience as well as Jesus’ ministry. God’s law was “gentle cords” and “bands of love” because it taught Israel how to love God and neighbor and thus was the way of life and freedom (Mat 19.16-17; 22.36-40). But the law was hard for Israel for the same reason that freedom is hard for slaves. True freedom involves a change of heart, not simply a change of circumstance. It involves a process of growing up into the responsibilities inherent in freedom. Apart from these inner changes, a former slave will carry their slavery with them. Thus it proved easier for God to get Israel out of Egypt than it was to get Egypt out of Israel. The law seemed like a hard yoke to Israel. But it was not the law that made life hard, rather it was Israel’s inner slavery — her ingrained aversion to loving God and neighbor, which according to Jesus is what the law was all about (Mat 22.36-40). To use Paul’s words, the law was spiritual, but Israel was carnal, sold in bondage to sin (Rom 7.14).

Jesus came offering an easy yoke and a light burden, just as God had at Sinai (Mat 11.28-29; Hos 11.4.) The hard yoke Jesus took off the people’s neck was not the law but the Scribal and Pharisaical accretions to the law which were heavy to bear and had the effect of subverting God’s intentions (Mat 5.17-20; 15.1-14; 23.4). Jesus’ easy yoke was hard for sinners, however, for it required the same change of heart as Jehovah’s easy yoke at Sinai. Happily, that change of heart is exactly what God’s promised to give in the new covenant and exactly what Jesus came to bring to pass (Jer 31.31-33; Rom 8.3-4).

But remember that there is also the aspect of freedom that involves growing up into the responsibility and privilege of loving God and neighbor. That is a discipleship process. It is an easy yoke, for it is the way of life and freedom. It is a hard yoke, for it demands that we take up our cross and lose our life for Christ (Mat 10.38-39; 16.25). Following Christ on the path to freedom is the hardest thing and the easiest thing we will ever do.