Matthew 11:30 KJV - For my yoke [is] easy, and my burden is light.
It is a different statement from an equally valuable statement
1 John 5:3 NASB - For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.
I also think of the following
Acts 15:10, 23-31 NKJV - 10 "Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? ... 23 They wrote this [letter] by them: The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings. 24 Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, "[You must] be circumcised and keep the law"--to whom we gave no [such] commandment-- 25 it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth. 28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 29 that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell. 30 So when they were sent off, they came to Antioch; and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the letter. 31 When they had read it, they rejoiced over its encouragement.
And
Galatians 6:2 NKJV - 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
For
Galatians 5:14 NKJV - 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, [even] in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
These
John 13:34 NKJV - 34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
John 15:12, 17 NKJV - 12 "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ... 17 "These things I command you, that you love one another.
Romans 13:8 NKJV - 8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.
1 Thessalonians 4:9 NKJV - 9 But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;
1 Peter 1:22 NKJV - 22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,
1 John 3:11, 23 NKJV - 11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, ... 23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.
1 John 4:7, 11-12 NKJV - 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ... 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.
2 John 1:5 NKJV - 5 And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another.
Not to make excuses or an excuse for sin
1 Peter 4:8 NASB - Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
It is without fear
1 John 4:18 NASB - There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
The word yoke is in the Torah or the TaNaK. See
BlueLetterBible.org's NKJV Search for yoke. It is important to know what a yoke is.
See Matthew 5:17-19.
Matthew 5:17-20 KJV - 17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach [them], the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed [the righteousness] of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Love your neighbor, as it says in Leviticus (Vayikra) in the Torah, the Five Books of Moses, the Law, the Law of Moses, the Pentateuch.
Leviticus 19:17-18 KJV - 17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. 18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I [am] the LORD.
All of this to say that if you understand all of Jesus' words you understand not only that God wants you to obey His own commandments in His Son Jesus Christ, and to obey the Commandments of Jesus which are the Word and Commandments of God, but that in understanding that we are to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our might and to love your neighbor as yourself, we know also that God cares about you.
1 Peter 5:7 NKJV - 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
For He sent His Son to teach you how to live and to die for your sins that you would be forgiven and granted the free gift of eternal life.
John 3:16-21 NKJV - 16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 "But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."
1 Corinthians 15:3 NKJV - 3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
Romans 6:22-23 NKJV - 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin [is] death, but the gift of God [is] eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What He taught changed, and changes, people's lives.
Matthew 11:5 NKJV - 5 "[The] blind see and [the] lame walk; [the] lepers are cleansed and [the] deaf hear; [the] dead are raised up and [the] poor have the gospel preached to them.
Luke 7:22 NKJV - 22 Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that [the] blind see, [the] lame walk, [the] lepers are cleansed, [the] deaf hear, [the] dead are raised, [the] poor have the gospel preached to them.
Shalom.
Jacob