Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 11:28-30

"Come unto me, all ye that labor 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." — Matthew 11:28-30 (ASV)

St. John Chrysostom: By what He had said, He brought His disciples to desire Him, showing them His unspeakable excellence. Now He invites them to Himself, saying, Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Why do we all labor so, if not because we are mortal, bearing vessels of clay that cause us much difficulty? But if the vessels of our flesh are confined, the regions of love will be enlarged. Why then does He say, Come to me, all you who labor, if not to free you from labor?¹

St. Hilary of Poitiers: He calls to Himself those who were laboring under the hardships of the Law and those who are burdened with the sins of this world.

St. Jerome: The Prophet Zechariah testifies that the burden of sin is heavy, saying that wickedness sits on a talent of lead (Zechariah 5:7).ⁱ And the Psalmist confirms this: Your iniquities have grown heavy upon me (Psalm 38:4).

St. Gregory the Great: For it is a cruel yoke and a heavy burden of servitude to be subject to the things of time, to be ambitious for earthly things, to cling to what is falling, to seek to stand on what cannot stand, and to desire things that pass away while being unwilling to pass away with them. For while all things fly away against our wish, those things which had first harassed the mind in its desire to gain them, now oppress it with the fear of losing them.

St. John Chrysostom: He did not say, "Come, this person or that person," but "all who are in trouble, in sorrow, or in sin," not so that I may exact punishment from you, but so that I may forgive your sins. "Come," He says, not because I need your glory, but because I seek your salvation. And I will refresh you. This is not merely "I will save you," but something much greater: "I will refresh you," meaning, I will set you in complete peace.

Rabanus Maurus: I will not only take your burden from you, but will also satisfy you with inner refreshment.

Remigius of Auxerre: "Come," He says, not with your feet, but with your life; not in body, but in faith. For that is a spiritual approach by which anyone draws near to God, and therefore it follows, Take my yoke upon you.

Rabanus Maurus: The yoke of Christ is His Gospel, which joins and yokes together Jews and Gentiles in the unity of the faith. We are commanded to take this upon ourselves—that is, to hold it in honor. We must do this lest, perhaps, by setting it beneath us—that is, by wrongly despising it—we trample upon it with the muddy feet of unholiness. Therefore He adds, Learn from me.

St. Augustine of Hippo: We are not to learn how to create a world or to do miracles in that world, but that I am meek and lowly in heart. Do you want to be great? Begin with the least. Do you want to build a mighty structure of greatness? First, consider the foundation of humility. For the mightier the building one seeks to raise, the deeper one must dig for its foundation. And where is the summit of our building to rise? To the sight of God.²

Rabanus Maurus: We must learn, then, from our Savior to be meek in temper and lowly in mind. Let us hurt no one, despise no one, and let us retain in our hearts the virtues we have shown in our deeds.

St. John Chrysostom: Therefore, in beginning the Divine Law, He begins with humility and sets a great reward before us, saying, And you will find rest for your souls. This is the highest reward. You will not only be made useful to others, but you will find peace for yourself. He gives you the promise of it before it comes, but when it does come, you will rejoice in perpetual rest. And so that they might not be afraid because He had spoken of a burden, He adds, For my yoke is pleasant, and my burden is light.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: He holds out the inducements of a pleasant yoke and a light burden, so that to those who believe, He may grant the knowledge of that good which He alone knows in the Father.

St. Gregory the Great: What kind of burden is it to place upon the neck of our mind that He bids us shun all disturbing desires and turn from the toilsome paths of this world?³

St. Hilary of Poitiers: And what is more pleasant than that yoke, what lighter than that burden? To be made better, to abstain from wickedness, to choose the good and refuse the evil, to love all people, to hate no one, to gain eternal things, not to be captivated by present things, and to be unwilling to do to another what you would be pained to suffer yourself.

Rabanus Maurus: But how is Christ's yoke pleasant, since it was said above, Narrow is the way which leadeth unto life (Matthew 7:14)? That which is entered by a narrow gate is, in time, made broad by the unspeakable sweetness of love.

St. Augustine of Hippo: So then, those who have submitted to the Lord's yoke with an unfearing neck endure such hardships and dangers that they seem to be called not from labor to rest, but from rest to labor.⁴

But the Holy Spirit was there, who, as the outward man decayed, renewed the inward man day by day. By giving a foretaste of spiritual rest in the rich pleasures of God and in the hope of future blessedness, He smoothed all that seemed rough and lightened all that was heavy.

Men suffer amputations and burnings so that, at the price of a sharper pain, they may be delivered from torments that are less severe but more lasting, such as boils or swellings.

What storms and dangers will merchants not undergo to acquire perishing riches? Even those who do not love riches endure the same hardships. But for those who do love them, these are not hardships at all, for love makes all things, however dreadful and monstrous, easy and almost nothing.

How much more easily, then, does love accomplish for true happiness what greed does for misery?

St. Jerome: And how is the Gospel lighter than the Law, since under the Law murder and adultery are punished, but under the Gospel anger and even concupiscence are punished? It is because the Law commands many things that, as the Apostle fully teaches, cannot be fulfilled. The Law requires works, but the Gospel seeks the will, which does not lose its reward even if it is not acted upon.

The Gospel commands what we can do, such as not to lust; this is within our power. The Law punishes the act, such as adultery, but not the will. For example, suppose a virgin was violated during a time of persecution. Since there was no consent of her will, she is considered a virgin under the Gospel. Under the Law, however, she is cast out as defiled.

1. Serm., 69, 1
2. Serm., 69, 1
3. Mor., iv, 33
4. Serm., 70, 1