Lesson 10
“Take My Yoke upon You, and Learn of Me”
Matthew 11:28-30; 12:1-13; Luke 7:36-50; 13:10-17
By Breck England

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

In this lesson, we learn that to come unto Christ means “taking his yoke upon us” rather than taking upon ourselves the yoke of the devil. The choice of which yoke we will bear is continually before us.

yoke is an instrument of wood or metal used to join two oxen together so they may walk in step with each other. In Bible times it was also a symbol of belonging. To “bear the yoke” of a ruler such as the king of Egypt or Babylon was to belong to him as a servant or slave.

The Iron Yoke of the Devil

When the children of Israel chose to do evil, they also chose to bring down upon their necks the yoke of the devil. As Nephi observed, the devil “yoketh them with a yoke of iron, and bringeth them down into captivity.” [2]

Joseph Smith taught that this yoke of the devil “is an iron yoke, it is a strong band: they are the very handcuffs, and chains, and shackles, and fetters of hell.”[3] Those who fail to throw off Satan’s yoke through repentance will find themselves “sealed” to the devil: “If ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked.” [4]

Imagine how hard that yoke and how heavy that burden — to be sealed to Satan! By contrast, consider how easy the yoke and light the burden of Christ! And as we are all sinners, we all bear the yoke of sin until we come unto Christ by taking His yoke upon us.

Only Jesus Christ has the power to break the yoke of sin off our necks: “There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the Lord ... Now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.” [5] He that “imagineth evil” is the adversary who keeps the unrepentant yoked to him in bondage.

We cannot free ourselves from the yoke of sin, but by our repentance Christ can free us. Then through our faithfulness, we can remain free, as Paul wrote: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” [6]

The Easy Yoke of Christ

The invitation to “take my yoke upon you” is made to all those who “labor and are heavy laden.”  The Greek word translated “labor” (κοπίο) would probably be better translated “exhaust yourselves.” Too many of us fail to recognize that we are bearing a yoke that will exhaust us. Elder Russell M. Ballard reads a letter from a friend who came near to destruction as he gradually took off the yoke of Christ and put on the exhausting yoke of the world.

He went on to say that because of financial strains, his wife began working. He began working long hours and neglected his family and Church duties. His demanding work schedule left him emotionally drained and physically exhausted. He became critical of others, including his family members and Church leaders.

His letter continues:

This is the fate of those who shrug off the easy yoke of Christ in favor of the yoke of worldly success: spiritual and physical exhaustion and the destruction of peace and happiness. As one Church member confessed, “I can’t remember when I began to think my frequent fatigue was proof that I was diligently trying to do the will of the Lord, or proof that I had no time for anything else in my life. Second Nephi 2:25 says, ‘Men are, that they might have joy.’ Somehow I twisted that scripture in my mind to read, ‘Men and women are that they might be exhausted — and the more the better.’” [8]

Actually, the yoke of Christ is the antidote to the pain and weariness of life in a telestial world. By taking on the yoke of Christ we realize, in His words, that we would do best not to be “careful and troubled about many things,” for in reality only “one thing is needful” [9] — to come unto Him and cast our burdens upon Him.

Cast Thy Burden upon the Lord

As with the pair of oxen yoked together, when we take upon ourselves the yoke of Christ He becomes our “yokefellow”: a Partner of infinite strength capable of carrying the entire burden Himself. President Howard W. Hunter said:

Some may feel that their burdens are too heavy for Him to bear, that their burdens will be rejected, that they are so “heavy laden” with sin and failure that there is no hope for them. In regard to such suffering souls, Jesus had this to say to the Pharisee Simon, who rebuked Him for allowing a sinful woman to anoint Him and bathe His feet with her tears:  

The heavier the burden, the greater the relief the Savior can administer. The miracle of the infinite Atonement is just this: like the two creditors, none of us have anything to pay. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” [13]

And those burdens are not just the burdens of sin that we all share. The burdens Christ can lift are all the defects of our mortal lives: hopelessness, illness, failure, disappointment, and discouragement. 

Elder Dallin H. Oaks has said:

May Christ Lift Thee Up

Too many of us believe we can lift ourselves up by our own power. Although we are clearly to do “all we can do,” ultimately, it is the Lord who lifts us.

In the end, there is precious little we can do for ourselves: that’s why “it is by grace we are saved.” [16] How often are we like the infirm woman, “bowed together” either literally or figuratively, under the weight we bear? How many of us wonder how to find the strength to stand up from day to day?

his is the only answer that works: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

I testify of Jesus Christ. I testify that He is the Savior who alone can lift us up. I pray with the prophet Mormon:  “May Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death ... and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever.” [17]