10-23-2019

Good Morning All,

           Matthew 11: 28-30; “Come to me, all who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.  Place my yoke over your shoulders, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble. Then you will find rest for yourselves because my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

     I have always been interested by how a team of oxen work together.  They wear a heavy wooden yoke that hooks them together as they pull the weight.  The interesting thing is that one of the oxen actually does most of the work.  This one is called the lead ox.  The other one is just sort of there, kind of an ox in training.  This one is often referred to as the “oft ox.”  The lead ox was usually named while the oft ox usually wasn’t.  It was the primary job of the lead ox to follow the furrow, going straight, and to keep the oft ox pulling the same direction.

    This is what Jesus is referring to with the phrase “place my yoke over your shoulders, learn from me.  Because my yoke is easy and my burden is light.  The yoke belongs to Jesus and he does all the heavy lifting; all the work.  The “work” is the job of obtaining our salvation.  Christ’s death on the cross was the “work”; the fact that he gives this to us freely makes the yoke “light and easy.”  So why do we so often feel like that yoke is weighing us down?  If the yoke is light and easy life should be a breeze, why isn’t it?

    The problem is that we are the “oft ox.”  The oft ox tends to stray from the path and try to go a different direction.  The oft ox tries to go on its own path and doesn’t care if it is right or not.  When the oft ox heads in its own direction, it strains against the yoke and tries to pull away.  This is when the yoke gets heavy.  This is when the yoke stops being easy and it begins to be hard; it begins to chafe and causes us to stumble.  But it is not the yoke that makes us stumble; it is our desire to follow our own path. 

     Now many may think that many decisions in life cause us angst and make the yoke heavy.  How do I know if this is the right path?  The answer is in the question, does the path you choose go against Scripture and faith?  If it does, it’s the wrong path.  So as a young person, you can choose to be a teacher or a banker or a farmer.  But if you desire to be a crooked banker or a cheating farmer or a lying teacher, the yoke will be heavy.  You can choose to marry whomever you love but if you desire to be selfish and only concerned with your own happiness and pleasure, the yoke will not be light.

    The yoke is light when we follow the path of faith that God lays out before us, when we live according to his will.  This gives us the hope for salvation but also a life of contentment that God desires us to have.  The yoke can be light but only if we follow the lead of Jesus and live in his grace.

Dearest Father, you place our yoke upon Jesus and give to us peace and rest.  Give us the faith to trust in your grace to lead us in your path.  Guard us, guide us to the path of your holy contentment.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret