The Light Yoke: 9th Sunday of Ordinary Time

“Come to me, all you who are struggling hard and carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Put on my yoke, and learn from me. I’m gentle and humble. And you will find rest for yourselves. My yoke is easy to bear, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30, Common English Bible)

What beautiful words Jesus speaks to us today. But how exactly is taking on one more burden on top of all our other burdens going to make those loads feel lighter? And what yoke could Jesus be talking about other than the yoke he would later carry to Calvary? What could possibly be easy to bear about the cross of Jesus?

And O the heavy loads, the pains physical, mental and spiritual we carry every day. There are the emotional scars of having been hurt by those we loved and to whom we were the most vulnerable. There are the griefs we carry in our hearts, that however lightened by the passage of years, will not go away. There is the aching we feel for those we love and are powerless to help. There is the aching in our own bodies, which we know will only grow worse the older we get, however much we protest against it. There is the heavy load of anxiety over the future wealth and security of this country that we all love. And there is the heavy load of anger at the ways in which our homes have been changed, in ways that we never agreed to.

And also there is the pain of those who are personally acquainted with every one of these heavy loads; who have been called to listen, and to speak whatever words of comfort they can hear from God. They pray for all those heavy loads surrounding them. And yet, they know that at some time, they will disappoint every single person who entrusts their heavy loads to those who have been called to listen and speak whatever words of comfort they can hear from God.

So again, how will taking the yoke of Jesus make any of our heavy loads any lighter? Are we supposed to see our burdens as a cross, which we must bear as Jesus bore his cross. Are we supposed to die as Jesus did? Well, sometimes we have burdens which are inescapable. And at those points, we need to know that Jesus has made our yoke his yoke: that he has come along beside us and will accompany us to wherever we are heading. Sometimes, there are burdens which we have no choice but to bear in the hope of Resurrection.

But of the many things I learned at the Cooperative College for Congregational Development, this one statement stood out for me: Jesus already died for you. Too often, we think of the Christian life as just one more good work, one more sacrifice, one more load to carry. But Jesus has carried the only loads that matter; those loads of guilt and anger and alienation from other people. Those loads were buried with him, never to be carried again. Be careful of those loads which other human beings would place on your back and tell you it’s for your own good. Once again, Jesus promises that his yoke is easy and light and gives you rest.

But how do we recognize that light, easy and restful yoke? I recognized it on a Thursday evening when a man named Oscar knocked on the door of our church at 6 in the evening. He is from Cuba. A “labor services” company recruited him to work in one of the industrial plants here in Albertville. They got him his green card. And so he worked here, until he got tendinitis and filed for workers’ compensation. Whereupon the people running the plant fired him. The “labor services” company that had put him up in an apartment served him with an eviction notice and had his power cut off.

So there he was at our church’s doorstep, on a Thursday evening when I was trying to talk to Mark about his sermon, and hadn’t eaten since breakfast. But there was Oscar, barely able to speak English, not having showered in days, with no money. And he was the light yoke. It suddenly didn’t matter to me that it had been a long day, and that I wanted dinner. Nothing mattered more to Mark and me at that moment than making sure that Oscar at least had a place to sleep for that night, could take a bath and eat. We did what we could. I put him up at the King’s Inn for the night. I drove him by the Downtown Rescue Mission, so that he could check with them the next day about getting a ride to their shelter in Huntsville.

That was as much as I could do for him that night. I couldn’t take his heavy load away from him. But for that one night, I could give him a hand and then hand him along with a prayer that Jesus would come alongside him and share his yoke. For a short time, I took that light yoke and found rest from my heavy loads.

So the light yoke is that moment when you have the opportunity to ease someone else’s burden. You don’t have to take it all from them. You don’t have to transfer their burden to you. You just have to do what you can, and feel the ease and the rest within yourself. And as we try to help carry each others’ loads, there will be times when we drop them, when we fail to ease their burdens of hurt, and grief, and aching, and anxiety and anger. But Jesus will be there, to pick up the pieces. Where we are wrong, Jesus will make it right. What we cannot complete, Jesus will fulfill.

“Come to me, all you who are struggling hard and carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Put on my yoke, and learn from me. I’m gentle and humble. And you will find rest for yourselves. My yoke is easy to bear, and my burden is light.”