“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon
you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is
easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
To Jesus’ hearers, the yoke was a symbol of bondage―the bondage of slavery and oppression under the
yoke of the Romans. But Jesus recommended to them another kind of yoke: a yoke of freedom, comradeship,
and blessing. “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light,” were His words.
The yoke is made for two. We speak of a “yoke” of oxen, a team, a pair of oxen. Jesus invites you to
become His yoke-fellow, to share His yoke. He is already there. He wants you to team up with Him, to let Him
walk by your side, to let Him share the load. It is a blessed walk in terms of fellowship and freedom, obedience
and submission, sacrifice and service.
Booker T. Washington, educator, reformer, and the first president and principal developer of Tuskegee
Normal and Industrial Institute, now Tuskegee University, and the most influential spokesman for Black
Americans between 1895 and 1915, told how the first time he went to Boston, he was toiling along the street
from the railroad station to the hotel, carrying two heavy suitcases. Suddenly he felt a hand slip in alongside his
own, and a hearty voice sounded in his ear, “Let me share the load.” It was Edward Everett Hale. He had
recognized Booker T. Washington from his pictures, and this meeting marked the beginning of a life-long
friendship between the two men.
Let me share the load. That is what our great Companion and Friend, Jesus Christ, is saying to all those
who labor and are heavy-laden. He is always by our side to help us in temptation and trial, in trouble and
adversity, affliction and sorrow. When we fully share all of life’s experiences with Him, the burden grows
lighter, and we enter into His rest.
We are blessed with His promise to us, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” The
songwriter gifted us with such remarkable language when he wrote of “love so amazing.” Our God, so willing
and able to share the load that is too heavy for us to bear, will continue to do so this day, and all our days, as we
do our part in accomplishing His work and fulfilling His will.
Francis Mason
Pastor Mason
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