Wearing His Yoke

“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