The Yoke's no Joke
Today I’d like to share a lesson that I always have to remind myself of when I feel burdened and heavy. And it all has to do with a yoke.
This may be a new word for some of you, but it might not be! Does it sound familiar? Because Jesus used this term once while preaching!
If you’d like to follow along, flip to Matthew 11:25
First, what’s going on in Matthew? Well, Matthew is basically justifying/proving the fact that Jesus is the Messiah by sharing what happens while they (Jesus and his disciples) are spreading the good news and displaying God’s power to people through miracles.
In this particular section (11-13) of Matthew, the writer is giving details about the responses that people are having to Jesus and his messages. Some are positive, neutral, or negative. In this chunk of the Bible, Jesus is telling parables, or stories, that reflect the truth about the kingdom of God. Each one of these stories are about the responses that people are having to Jesus.
So the verse in interest…
28 “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.”
In the beginning of this chapter Jesus heard that John the Baptist was wondering if Jesus is really the Messiah, he asks “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” So Jesus sends his disciples to report to John all that Jesus has done. Then Jesus begins preaching. He also speaks to unrepentant towns, telling them that they are- at least I think- idiots for not repenting after seeing his miracles. But then Jesus breaks out in prayer, thanking God that even a child could understand the ways of God. Then He softens up and begins speaking about His relationship with the Father (God) and how special it is. This is when He speaks the verse in interest. He tells them all to simply follow Him, to follow peace! He tells them that He can give them rest! And we all know, even today, that we could use a LOT more of that. He tells them to put their yoke upon Him, He says His yoke is easy, and the burden is light!
But what does that even mean?? What’s a yoke gotta do with being burdened and tired??? Well, that’s when research comes into the picture. A yoke is tool that farmers would put over cattle to plow the fields. It looked like this…
So what they would do, is put the cattle’s head through the hoops, and tie a large piece of wood, or any large object for that matter, onto that little loop in the center to plow the fields.
So what Jesus is saying, is that before all of this, we were trying to carry this load all by ourselves. Any burden could be seen as a yoke! School, work, friendships, failure, etc. But Jesus tells these people, He tells us, not to carry it by ourselves! He is inviting us to let Him take the other side of the yoke, to help lighten the load and to make is easy! He promises this to us! All we have to do is stop, pray and accept His help! But it may not be that easy… Think about it this way, yes, Jesus is on the other side of that yoke helping you, but it’s still a two-way effort! We have to pull our weight by talking to God, praying, and studying the Bible!
For me, I see the yoke I carry as life itself. Everything in life is stressful and burdening, but to know that Jesus is on the other side of life helping me pull the weight of it has something powerful in it! It energizes me to know that I’m really not alone! I hope and pray that this inspires you to let Jesus help you in your daily life and that you find rest! Thanks for reading!!
-K
