Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Ahh, that is so comforting! But Jesus continued: 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 (Matthew 11:28-29).
“Yoke” is a prickly word; it is a symbol of oppression so an invitation to take on a yoke sounds very negative, even coming from Jesus. We want no yokes; we want to be free!
But that is not an option; God did not create us that way. We either are slaves to our sin nature or slaves to God. (Check out Romans 6:16 & 22). Our options are sinful self-sufficiency along with all its pain, broken relationships and anxiety, or we can learn to become gentle and humble in Jesus’ company.
Why humble and gentle? For starters, if we are humble, we are not proud; we don’t look for glory so failure is not a disaster. We don’t need high approval ratings so we can drop all pretence to maintain a polished image. If we are gentle, we are not interested in jostling for position or prestige. It turns out that humility and gentleness offer rest.
A yoke is an agricultural tool. It is a wooden crosspiece that typically is fastened over the necks of two animals. Both animals are attached to the plow or cart they are to pull. The yoke joins two working animals together. So if we take Jesus’ yoke, he pulls our load with us.
And there is more. When a strong, experienced animal such as an ox is yoked together with a small, young animal like a steer, the ox pulls all the weight. The steer’s job simply is to learn to walk with his mentor.
How does that apply to me? If I am willing to let Jesus control how fast or slow we go and where we go, I am free from the responsibility of figuring it all out. I am not in charge and the outcome is not my concern. That is why Jesus’ yoke is easy and his burden is light (Matthew 11:30).
Leave a Reply