Is Following Jesus Really Easy?

“If you want to be perfect,” Jesus told a certain rich young man, “Go, sell what you have and give to the poor” (Matthew 19:21). Sounds like a pretty tall order right? What about when a man wanted to follow Jesus but said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” What was Jesus response? “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead” (Matthew 8:21-22). That doesn’t exactly sound easy. Or how about when Jesus flat-out promised, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household” (Matthew 10:34-35). I doubt anyone who has ever lived through the kind of family drama that Jesus is describing would call that a light experience.

With these instances in mind (and the many more like them), consider Jesus’ words here: “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 is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). The image of a yoke is one borrowed from the farming and agricultural world; it is used synonymously with “burden” and effectively speaks of the overall difficulty involved in being connected as a follower to Jesus. So, how could Jesus speak of the high price of discipleship on other occasions and then describe following Him as “easy” and “light” here?

Before I try to answer this question, let me say this: I don’t believe for a second that Jesus did not understand the stress or strain involved in the challenging instructions he gave to would-be disciples (cf. Hebrews 4:15). When Jesus told the rich young man to sell everything, He spoke as a man who had nothing: “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20). When Jesus talked about disappointing and even dividing from family, He spoke as a man whose brothers did not believe in Him (John 7:4) and who had prioritized receptive disciples over His family, including His mother (Mark 3:31-35). Jesus practiced what He preached, and He did not do so callously or dispassionately, as a scene from the cross involving His mother highlights (John 19:25-27). There are many reasons besides the cross why Jesus is described as, “A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3).

So let me offer three things to keep in mind as you try to harmonize “easy” and “light” with some pretty hard instructions surrounding the cost of discipleship. First, Jesus was the master of telling people what they needed to hear in a given moment (cf. Mark 4:33). Even with my (very) limited knowledge, I know as a parent that sometimes my children need different approaches. At those times when they are not taking something seriously, they need for me to take a more heavy handed approach and convey to them how important that thing really is. However, at other times, that same heavy handed approach might crush them. For all the startling statements that Jesus made about the cost of discipleship, Scripture promised about Him, “A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench” (Isaiah 42:3; Matthew 12:20). He knew when to startle people with hard truths, and He knew when to gently and positively encourage people.

Second, Jesus sometimes purposefully worked to form a contrast in people’s minds between following Him and following the typical religious leaders of the day. Elsewhere, he said of these leaders, “For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders” (Matthew 23:4). As Jesus vented His frustration over His “generation (Matthew 11:16) and the entire cities full of people who did not respond to His works (Matthew 11:21, 23), these leaders and their heavy burdens can’t have been far from His mind, as they had helped to harden the hearts of these dear souls. After thanking God for the receptive few (Matthew 11:25), Jesus makes it clear in Matthew 11:28-30 to as many as will hear: “I am not like the others!” In comparison to the religious leaders of His day, Jesus yoke really was easy and His burden really was light.

Third and perhaps most importantly, the cost of discipleship only seems great when viewed from the wrong perspective. Take the rich young man of Matthew 19 for example. How much did he stand to lose in following Jesus, and how much would he gain by way of comparison? No matter how much money he had, I am certain he did not have all the money in the world. And yet even if he did, Jesus said, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). When viewed from the proper perspective, any thing we have to do, endure, or give up for Jesus is a “light affliction” compared to “a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

So, while there was definitely a reason why Jesus described His yoke as easy and His burden as light to that particular audience on that day, no matter how you view it, what He said really is true. In fact, all yokes and burdens besides Jesus’ are life-destroying and soul-crushing in comparison. Indeed, “let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us” (Hebrews 12:1), take up Jesus’ yoke, and follow Him.

-Patrick Swayne  
patrick@tftw.org