"Come to me, all you that are weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of 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.

Jesus knew what a yoke was. Basically, a yoke is a wooden form placed over the neck of two oxen and attached to a plow, sled, or cart. It was different than a harness used on a horse; the yoke was designed to pull against the broad, strong shoulders of a draft animal.

But Jesus knew what a yoke was in a figurative sense, too. For centuries, yokes had been used on captives and slaves, and the prophets had compared the oppression Israel experienced as a "yoke of bondage." Hardship and forced labor, servitude and submission: These hardships were not unknown to this tiny nation at the crossroads of the ancient world.

Jesus and his followers had experienced all this at the hands of the Romans. High taxes ~ without representation ~ was only one form of oppression. Cruel punishments, including crucifixion, were meted out daily. All a Roman soldier had to do was ask, and an Israelite had to carry his baggage for a mile.

But Jesus was aware ~ and concerned ~ about another yoke of bondage. The law itself, the moral precepts God had given His people, had become bogged down in sometimes meaningless ritual and minutia. The people were oppressed not only by Roman legion but also by some Jewish leaders. Jesus seemed more concerned about money changers and some Pharisees than He was about the Romans. For He was despised of His own people.

It must have come as quite a surprise when He offered His followers another yoke, however. And it was an offer He made to those who were already weary and carrying heavy burdens. "Take My yoke," He said, "and you will find rest."

What did this mean to the simple peasants and farmers who flocked around Him? He was saying that, in contrast to the teachings of the scribes, His way was easy. He taught that all the law could be simply summarized: "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and love thy neighbor as thyself."

The simplicity of His call was truly liberating to those who were willing to listen. And to us, too. This is because the bondage most of us experience is to ourselves. To act in our own interests is complicated. We often find ourselves enmeshed in a web of deception and mistrust. We don't know what to do, and we worry about what others will think.

But as we focus on God and others, we find life is much less stressful. Our choices become clearer, our lives happier. We find the rest our anxious spirits crave. Compared to a life of selfish ambition, or even of Roman occupation, God's way is less wearisome, and His burden is muh lighter.

His yoke is easy for another reason, too. It isn't just comparatively easier. It really is just easier. That's because we work willingly for what we love. You might work ten times harder weeding your garden than you do when you're cleaning the house, you don't complain a bit if it's something you love to do.

Jesus isn't saying that following Him will be without its difficulties. In fact, in other places He says we will even have a cross of our own to bear. But He is saying that as we experience His gentle and humble heart, we will love Him. Then our yoke will be easy and our burdens will be light. And that''s a promise.

Lord, You have promised me rest. You have promised that following you will be easier than following myself. Today, please teach me your gentle and humble ways, and help me rest in your promise as I gladly accept your yoke. Amen.

Freedom and Faith

For love makes all, the hardest and most distressing things, altogether easy. . . . The things which are hard to those that labor lose their roughness to the same men when they love. Wherefore it has been so arranged by the dispensation of Divine goodness, that to the "inner man who is renewed day by day," placed no longer under the Law but under Grace, and freed from the numberless observance which were indeed a heavy yoke, every grievous trouble should, through the easiness of simple faith, and a good hope, and holy charity, become light through the joy within. St. Augustine of Hippo

A GOOD CONFESSION

The chains that have bound me are flung to the wind, by the mercy of God the poor slave is set free. And the strong arm of heaven breathes fresh o'er the mind, like the bright winds of summer that brighten the sea. I cried out in mercy, and fell on my knees, and confessed, while my heart with keen sorrow was wrung; 'twas the labor of minutes, and years of disease fell as fast from my soul as the words from my tongue. And now, blest be God and the sweet Lord who died! No deer on the mountain, no bird in the sky, no dark wave that leaps on the dark bounding tide, is a creature so free or so happy as I. Frederick William Farber

Inspirations for Daily Living.