“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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 11:28-30
Once while teaching, Jesus used the metaphor of putting on His yoke. A yoke was a harness made of wood or metal that would be placed on mules, cattle, or horses to ease their job in hauling loads. Yokes could be for a singular animal or doubled for a team to haul. A yoke was used to symbolize servitude.
One might ask, why would Jesus use a symbol of servitude to describe following Him and say His service was lighter than the world’s? Jesus was the Servant King. He came as the Shekinah Glory; God’s full characteristics incarnate in a man. Jesus was the embodiment of the Fruits of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self- Control.
One might say, yes, Jesus came in perfection and was the example, but His actions are unattainable, so again, we ask why the symbol of servitude?
Romans 6:16-18 tells us that servitude, otherwise known as slavery, comes from what we pattern our lives to obey. “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”
We become slaves to what we give value to. We may become slaves to our children, our families, politics, other’s opinions, our careers, social media, our appearances, our possessions, even our phones. Perhaps it’s even sneakier than that and we become slaves to our churches, our expectations, or our service obligations.
What we ought to place ultimate value on is Christ in us. We should work to allow God to make us holy as He is holy. We should remember the burdens Christ took for us, nailing them to the cross, shaming the devil in his defeat, and live remembering the light load Jesus has offered to us. His load is seeds. The only thing He asks us to carry is a song in our mouth, a testimony in our heart, and seeds to plant everywhere we go.
Galatians 5:25 says, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.” To envision the metaphor as Jesus spoke it, we shall see a single yoke placed around the neck of a work animal. Jesus as the guide. He is a faithful and kind master who won’t overload his workers in the field as they follow Him on the tasks He has placed before us.
I like to picture Pilgrim’s Progress protagonist, Christian, as His large and heavy backpack full of burdens fall off at the foot of the cross. When we really get the message of salvation, what it means as freedom for us. Freedom to be servants of righteousness and the call to be missional, we see something different than what the world sees.
The world see people who are odd. They don’t value what the world does: prestige, wealth, affluence. Other Christ-followers, though, see individuals who are joyful. We see people who walk intentionally, admiring the beauty around and within. They don’t take too much. They give. They know they are travelers, so they don’t get upset by the things that cause chaos in this passing ground. They know they are warriors, and their weapon is the Word and their protection comes from wearing the armor found in it through the power of prayer. They wear a small backpack that says, “seeds”, and they plant seeds everywhere they go.
Some places they travel will not receive the seeds, but they plant them anyway. Some places will absorb as many seeds as they can plant, so they plant all they can. Every fruit begins with a seed, even the Fruits of the Spirit. Fertile ground cares not who plants the seed, but accepts the seed all the same.
Those wearing Christ’s yoke will be known for their packs of seeds and by the songs they sing. Everyone who knows the one leading a light load and a gentle yoke remembers His redemptive work in their lives, and they praise Him for it. They know the power of their testimony.
“A Psalm for giving thanks. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” Psalm 100:1-5
