“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 NIV)
When Jesus Christ spoke those words, to whom was He speaking? The Pharisees? The disciples? The Gentiles? The Jews?
First and foremost, as you read those words right now, you must know that since it is the word of God, Jesus is speaking to you! That is the essence to the Bible; what was physically spoken centuries ago still speaks to us today. And who of us isn’t burdened and in need of rest? The pressures of life get to us all and here we are reminded that Christ is gentle and humble and has rest wating for us.
But there is more to this passage that can bring us additional comfort. The assumption is that we are to switch burdens and yokes. (A yoke is a device that fastens together the heads of two draft animals, usually oxen.) When Christ says that we are to take His yoke upon us and that his burden is light, it can only be done after we have come out from under the old yoke and relieved oursleves of the burden we have been carrying. Make sure we catch that; Christ’s yoke is not an additional one, it is to be the only one. His burden lightens our load, not increases its weight.
Boy do we need to remember that! So many times I have heard people talk about laying all their burdens at the foot of the cross, only to see them pick them right back up again when they walk away. Imagine carrying a backpack full of bricks around and then realizing you no longer need to carry them. You set them down, relieved of the pressure, and dance joyfully now that the heavy burden no longer holds you down. After your dancing, singing, and praising that the weight has been lifted, you turn to go. But before taking to many steps, you stop and grab the backpack of bricks, then trudge along your way.
As Christians, I am afraid that we all do that far too often. So much of our past has been allowed to find its way into our backpacks and we keep it there. We even deny we carry it, though our lives are bent and crooked under the stress. Sometimes the bricks are made up of memories of things we have yet to forgive ourselves for. They may be feelings of resentment or unforgiveness toward others that we have yet to release to God. Possibly the bricks represent the burden of living up to certain standards of “religion” that are demanded by man yet unimportant to God.
But Christ’s yoke is easy! When two oxen were yoked together, it was usually so that a more experienced ox could pull most of the load while a younger, less experienced one could learn to trust the other. Christ’s yoke is not to burden us or strangle us. It is so that He can lead us and we can learn from Him.
For far too long, you’ve been carrying all your burdens and pulling the load alone. You will find no relief until you lay down the burdens and leave them there. Christ can’t lead any of us until we put off the yoke of this world and replace it with His.
