If you’re tired, take my yoke and let’s get some work done.
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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is
light. Matthew 11
Bible-brainiacs are quick to assert
that the passage means that each Rabbi [teacher] had their own curriculum and
in the Hebrew tradition it was called a yoke.
Jesus would then be saying in these verses that his lessons are the ones
to select if you are tired, beat down, “weary and heavy laden”[KJV]. If only
you would come and learn, your soul could find rest …lie down beside still waters…Ps 23, your life become rejuvenated and you could
carry own. The ‘why’ is his declaration that his classes are “easy and his
burden [work load] is light” because he is a “gentle and humble” teacher.
Anyone who spends time ‘learning at His feet’ [reading, listening and studying
the Word] would agree with the explanation and the principle but is this only a
scholastic metaphor?
Where do the Rabbis get their
metaphor? They got it from their agrarian [farm] society just like Jesus did
for most of his illustrations.
The yoke is the harness that rests on the
shoulders of a pair of bovines trained as draft animals since youth. By placing
the force on their shoulders they can use their entire body to push against it instead
of a pulling action. They must push together and their stride must match or
they will simply nullify each other efforts. Oxen are used because they are
stronger than most common horse breeds, cheaper than specifically bred draft
animals, last longer during a hard day and are eaten when they reach then end
of their working life.
Let’s jump to American history. Pioneers used
oxen to pull the big Conestoga wagons across the American plains because they
outlasted the other commonly available draft animals even though they pulled at
the pace of a walking man. Nowhere near as fancy as a prancing horse or
imposing as an ornery mule, they prod along pushing against their yoke with the
pioneer’s entire household in tow. At the end of the day their progress dwarfed
the distance must faster animals could advance westward. Their style is
efficient. Lean forward into the load. When the nose nears the ground, take a
step forward. Repeat until sundown.
When we who are too weary to
rise, too weak to take another step, and yearn for rest, we must get to our
feet. When our soul is under the crushing weight of life; be harnessed for work.
When our burdens are great and we can’t move, lean into his yoke and take a
sideways glance at our partner in the strain. When it appears our face will hit
the ground, take a lockstep forward with Christ and repeat until the day is
ended. It will amaze you how far you got
when you look back. Counterintuitive and miraculous all at once.
