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A Yoke That Is Kindly and a Load That Is LightThe Watchtower—1970 | October 1
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Take my yoke upon you and become my disciples, for I am mild-tempered and lowly in heart, and you will find refreshment for your souls.
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A Yoke That Is Kindly and a Load That Is LightThe Watchtower—1970 | October 1
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THE KINDLY YOKE AND REFRESHMENT
9. How did Jesus get people to respond to his invitation so that they could find refreshment for their souls?
9 How did Christ get people to respond to his invitation so that they could find refreshment for their souls? He did so by revealing to them that refreshment comes not by escaping life’s burdens or work, as many modern-day hippies want to do, but by becoming yoked to Christ and becoming his disciples. He said: “Take my yoke upon you and become my disciples, . . . and you will find refreshment for your souls.” (Matt. 11:29) In the footnote of the 1950 edition of the New World Translation, this text reads: “Get under my yoke with me.” People, therefore, are invited to divest themselves of their worldly yokes or ties and get under Christ’s yoke with him in order to find refreshment for their souls. The new yoke would be for them to assume the responsibility that would make them disciples of Jesus Christ.
10. (a) Why can we say that Jesus’ yoke is a kindly one, and in what way does it differ from an oxen’s yoke? (b) Jesus’ invitation is similar to what invitation in the Psalms? (c) How does being yoked to Jesus bring refreshment?
10 The ancient Israelites were an agricultural people familiar with yokes. They, therefore, knew what Jesus was talking about. We must remember, too, that as a carpenter Jesus no doubt made yokes for oxen and collars for people. Such collars were often tailor made to fit around people’s necks and shoulders, with which they carried water and other supplies. The oxen’s yoke, however, is involuntary, but the yoke that Jesus was proposing was voluntary. He invited people to take his yoke upon them and become his disciples. For the Jew this meant willingly coming out from under the Mosaic law to become a disciple of Jesus Christ, to be yoked with Christ in the service of God with all of one’s heart, soul, mind and might, by reason of one’s faith. (Matt. 22:36-40; Rom. 1:17) The advice is similar to that invitation in Psalm 55:22: “Throw your burden upon Jehovah himself, and he himself will sustain you. Never will he allow the righteous one to totter.” As firmly as we can depend upon Jehovah for help, we can also trust the words of the One whom he sent to do his work on earth, namely, Jesus Christ. Jesus revealed that true refreshment comes by exercising faith in him as Jehovah’s provision for salvation. For, “there is no salvation in anyone else, for there is not another name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must get saved.” (Acts 4:12) Such knowledge nourishes hope. It refreshes one with thoughts of life everlasting in a righteous new system of things.—2 Pet. 3:13; 1 John 1:9; 2:17.
11. What is the refreshment received? And how do we know that the first-century Christians received it?
11 The refreshment is primarily an inward experience, one of joy and knowledge that the disciple of Christ is a child in the family of God by reason of faith and not by works of the Mosaic law. The refreshment is a sharing in Jesus’ own experience of perfect loving obedience to Jehovah by faith and receiving God’s approval from such association. With each turning toward Christ, with each drawing close to him, the weary find refreshment, a cause for rejoicing. The refreshment received is the peace of mind that one enjoys, the deep calming of the heart, a contentment in life that passes all understanding. First-century Christians did experience this refreshment and wrote about it in the Holy Scriptures.—John 14:27; Phil. 4:7.
THE KINDLY YOKE TODAY
12. What is Christ’s yoke today?
12 But what is Christ’s yoke today? It is not a yoke of idleness, nor is it an exemption from work or from any honorable demand, but a way of life with everlasting rewards in view. It is a life that calls for sacrifice and example. (Matt. 16:24-26; 19:16-29) Therefore, it is not an unrestrained life, a life of irresponsibility, a life of “uncharted freedoms,” which life soon chafes and tires, because of its lack of responsibility, accomplishment and attainment. The yoke today, therefore, is the same as it was in Jesus’ day; it is a yoke of complete dedication to God as a disciple of Jesus Christ. It is a way of life, which one lives by faith as a true servant of Jehovah with everlasting life in view.—Heb. 10:7-10; Ps. 40:6-8.
13. How can a Christian today find refreshment for his soul, and what must those do who have not experienced this refreshment?
13 Such a yoke the Christian voluntarily takes on, because it refreshes. One experiences a godly freedom from it. For “if you remain in my word,” said Jesus, “you are really my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” “Therefore if the Son sets you free, you will be actually free.” (John 8:31, 32, 36) To be free and experience refreshment one must, therefore, become a disciple of Jesus Christ. There is no other way to gain this experience. (Rom. 7:4; Gal. 5:1) People today who claim to be Christian and who do not experience freedom or refreshment have need to examine their relationship with God, for he is a God who fulfills his promise.—1 Ki. 8:56.
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A Yoke That Is Kindly and a Load That Is LightThe Watchtower—1970 | October 1
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15. (a) How can we take Christ’s yoke upon ourselves, and why is it a pleasant experience? (b) Why do not worldly yokes satisfy, while Christ’s yoke does?
15 The yoke is Christ’s. “Take my yoke upon you,” he says. We, therefore, are called upon to follow Christ’s example. This is a pleasure, because he describes himself as “mild-tempered and lowly in heart.” (Matt. 11:29; 1 Pet. 2:21) These qualities are set in contrast to the harsh, demanding spirit of worldly authorities. Because Christ is mild-tempered and lowly in heart we do enjoy working with him. His yoke is lined with true love. It does not gall or chafe us as worldly yokes do. Worldly yokes are harsh, cutting and demanding. They chafe and tire, not only because they are harsh, but because one feels no lasting benefit, no true attainment, no real satisfaction in working to satisfy the selfish cravings of wicked men on earth. But when yoked with Christ as one of his disciples, we each have the joy and contentment that comes with serving Jehovah, and this is what satisfies. This awareness of being God’s servant is what brings true refreshment to the soul.—Prov. 10:22.
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