“When you’re weary
Feeling small
When tears are in your eyes
I’ll dry them all
I’m on your side
Oh, when times get rough
And friends just can’t be found
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
When you’re down and out
When you’re on the street
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you
I’ll take your part
Oh, when darkness comes
And pain is all around
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Sail on silver girl
Sail on by
Your time has come to shine
All your dreams are on their way
See how they shine
Oh, if you need a friend
I’m sailing right behind
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.”
“Bridge Over Troubled Water,” was released in 1970. It was Simon & Garfunkel’s final studio album and their greatest success. The title track won an unprecedented five Grammy Awards, while the LP of the same name won Album of the Year. Indeed the album stayed at #1 for 10 weeks, remained on the chart for a total of 85 weeks, and was certified an 8X platinum. One writer observed,
“When the song was first written in 1969, America was in a state. Vietnam was in motion, Richard Nixon was president, and the country was still coping with the loss of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, who were both assassinated in 1968. “Bridge Over Troubled Water” spoke to the turmoil of the times and [indeed] continues to adapt to more recent times, used as an uplifting anthem around more tragic events. In 2005, Simon & Garfunkel reunited to sing the song to help raise money for those affected by Hurricane Katrina. In 2017, the song was also remixed by British artists for the Artists for Grenfell, following the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in London.”[1]
Have you ever wondered why Simon and Garfunkel’s song Bridge Over Troubled Waterremains so popular? It wasn’t just Paul Simon’s amazing tune, or Art Garfunkel’s haunting voice. What you may not know is that Paul Simon was inspired by a gospel song. In an interview, he describes hearing the southern gospel group Swan Silvertones’ 1959 song “Oh Mary Don’t You Weep.” Simon apparently listened to the record “over and over again in his Upper East Side apartment… thunderstruck by a line improvised by the lead singer Claude Jeter: ‘I’ll be your bridge over deep water if you trust in my name.’”[2] Simon reflected, “I think that must have subconsciously influenced me, and I started to go to gospel [chord] changes.”[3]
The New Orleans musician Allen Toussaint astutely observed: ‘That song had two writers: Paul Simon and God.‘” And here is the clue. Many of Paul Simon’s early songs have religious themes, but I believe the reason this song, in particular, remains so popular is because it hits a raw nerve in us all. We can all identify with the words. We are all weary of life, sooner or later. We all feel small. We all need a friend, “when darkness comes. And pain is all around.” And notice its written in the first person:
“When you’re weary
Feeling small
When tears are in your eyes
I’ll dry them all
I’m on your side…
I will comfort you
I’ll take your part…
I will ease your mind…
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.”
Who is Paul Simon talking about? Verse 3 is a reference to his soon-to-be-wife, but who was the inspiration? Who laid down his life? Jesus was and is the inspiration, the answer to our deep longing which the song addresses. Jesus was the one who first said, “Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” This stupendous promise is found in our Gospel reading from Matthew 11. The context comes in verses 11:16-19 which reveal differing perceptions of Jesus. In verses 11:25-27 we discover the pre-eminence of Jesus, his unique relationship with God the Father and his authority to reveal God’s purposes:
“At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. 27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
This is the context for Matthew 11:28-30. Because Jesus is God the Son, he alone can make this universal and unequivocal promise to you and me.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
Let me ask you – do you feel weary today? Do you feel burdened? I don’t just mean tired. There’s a difference. If you feel tired, what do you do? Sleep. Tiredness is a physiological condition resolved by sleep. But if you repeatedly wake up feeling tired then perhaps it is not sleep you need. If tiredness is physiological, weariness is psychological. Weariness is fatigue or exhaustion, the unwillingness or inability to find the strength to cope or face reality. Weariness can be caused by a multitude of factors. Personally, I am weary of our politicians prevaricating over climate change, putting their party interests above global solutions. I am weary of the inexorable growth of Israeli state sanctioned squatter settlements stealing more and more Palestinian land. I am weary of Western church leaders who are in denial of the reality of apartheid, more concerned to avoid offending the Zionist Lobby than heeding the cry for hope, the cry for justice from our sisters and brothers in Palestine. Whatever is causing you to feel weary or burdened today, Jesus gives three short commands: Come, take, learn. Come to me; Take my yoke; Learn from me. Let’s consider them one at a time.
Come to Me
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
The contrast with the message of the Pharisees could not be greater. Their message was “do” – a wearisome burden, demanding people follow Moses and their many traditions.
In Matthew 23, Jesus castigates the Pharisees because,
“They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.” (Matthew 23:4)
Theirs was a religion. What people must “do”. Christianity is not a religion, (religion means ‘rules’) – Christianity is a relationship. A personal relationship with Jesus. It is not about what we must do (present tense), but about what Jesus has done (past tense), done for us. Jesus says, “Come to me” not “go to the Law” –“Come to me” simply means “trust me”. And who is this command made to? All. All who are weary and burdened. It is a universal command with an unequivocal promise. “I will give you rest.”
This rest is so needed, Jesus repeats the phrase in verse 29, When you come to me, when you trust me, “you will find rest for your souls.” The Bible talks much about this “rest”. In Hebrews 4, it is linked to the idea of the Sabbath day of rest, the rest God promised his people in their own land, the future rest in heaven where there will be no more pain, no more suffering, no more weariness or burdens. But it also speaks of experiencing God’s rest today, “for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works.” (Hebrews 4:10).
So first, if you are weary and burdened, come to Jesus, trust Jesus with whatever is causing your weariness, whatever is burdening you. Come to me. Second, Jesus commands,
Take My Yoke
“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:29-30)
Warren Wiersbe observes,
“This is a deeper experience. When we come to Christ by faith, He gives us rest. When we take His yoke and learn, we find rest, that deeper rest of surrender and obedience. The first is “peace with God” (Romans 5:1); the second is “the peace of God which transcends all understanding.” (Philippians 4:6-8).”
The yoke was a wooden collar that ran across the shoulders of a pair of oxen and enabled them to pull the weight of the plough.
The expression “take a yoke” is therefore a vivid way of describing becoming someone’s disciple. Often in Judaism, it was applied to the law. Jesus instead invites the weary not to go to the law but to come to him. When we come to Christ, and submit to him, we become yoked with him. In contrast to the law, Jesus reassures us that his yoke is “easy” and his “burden is light”. The word “easy” means “well fitting” meaning his yoke is designed for us – it is personalised to our lives and needs. And the burden of doing his will, unlike that of the Pharisees, is not a heavy one, but a light one because Jesus is, in his own words, “gentle and humble in heart.” (Matthew 11:29). It is so reassuring to realise that he knows us, he understands us and knows what we are going through. He comes alongside to guide us and help us. Jesus not only welcomes the sinner who is burdened “Come to me” but wants to train the disciple in how to live “take my yoke”. And the third command which is linked?
Learn from me
“…learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:29).
If the first command “Come to me” is prompted by our condition – of being weary, the second “Take my yoke” is intended to relieve our burdens because Jesus will carry them with us and for us, third command “Learn from me” points to the process of resolving our weariness – it looks forward and our journey into the future with Jesus. Take my yoke and learn from me are linked. A farmer would often yoke a younger inexperienced animal with an older, stronger, wiser animal so that the younger one would learn from the older, how to plough. That is what Jesus is promising here.
As we learn more of Jesus and his will for our lives, so we find a deeper peace and security as we trust him with our burdens.
Let me close with a helpful reflection by Doug Webster from his book The Easy Yoke.[4]
“His easy yoke is neither cheap nor convenient. The surprising promise of the easy yoke was meant to free us from the self-serving, meritorious, performance-based religion. It is easy in that it frees us from the burden of self-centredness, liberates us from the load of self-righteousness, and frees us to live in the way that God intended us to live… The easy yoke sounds like an oxymoron. Ploughing a field or pulling a load is hard work. And nowhere does Jesus promise soft ground… or level paths… What he does promise is a relationship with Himself… Apart from the grace of Christ and the saving work of the cross, it would be impossible to convince people that the easy yoke is doable, let along easy. But for those who live under the yoke there is absolutely no other way to live. Who in their right mind would go back to the gods of self, money, lust and power? Who would return on bended knee to the shrines of pious performance and judgmentalism? Is not love better than hate, purity better than lust, reconciliation better than retaliation? And if not “better”, really “easier” when measured in character rather than convenience, rest for the soul rather than selfish pride?”
And the next time you hear Paul Simon’s song Bridge over troubled water, remember where his inspiration came from. And then remember where yours lies – in the promise of Jesus:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
[1] https://americansongwriter.com/the-meaning-behind-bridge-over-troubled-water-by-simon-garfunkel/
[2] https://www.openculture.com/2021/02/paul-simon-tells-the-story-of-how-he-wrote-bridge-over-troubled-water-1970.html
[3] https://americansongwriter.com/the-meaning-behind-bridge-over-troubled-water-by-simon-garfunkel/
[4] Doug Webster, The Easy Yoke (Colorado Springs, NavPress, 1995), pp 8, 14.