Of Burdens, Yokes and Rest

"Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, 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."  Many of us cannot hear these words without the sound of Handel’s “Messiah” ringing in our ears… first the wonderful sounds of solo voices and then the chorus of voices singing a complex fugue.  But not in all the years that I have sung these words have I ever spent time wondering what Jesus meant by them.  Now that I have studied them, it is a wonder that they are used at funerals to comfort the bereaved, for they do not talk so much about the cessation of labor, but the way in which that labor should be accomplished.

These days, if you want to talk about yokes, you have to first ask if anyone knows what a yoke is.  In my childhood in Thailand, one of the common sights was the sight of a team of oxen, yoked together, pulling a heavy wooden cart.  The oxen never moved quickly.  In fact, I was often frustrated by how slowly they moved and blocked my way.  I was faster on my bicycle.  But, while they moved slowly, they did move in tandem… matching their strides to each other… pulling their burden together… neck bells ringing as they walked.  How did they learn to do that?  Were they trained or did the simple experience of walking yoked together teach them how to keep pace with each other?

One of the conferences that I attended in recent years was held at a rustic lodge in a forest preserve.  There were no cars allowed on the property, so guests had to load their luggage onto carts and pull them to their cabins down a gravel path.  I shared a room with another participant and, because we arrived together, we were able to pull our luggage to our cabin together.  It took a few minutes for us to learn how to pull the cart together so that we kept the same pace and pulled our burden forward smoothly.  Either one of us could have pulled the cart alone, but working together, it was easier and faster… and the burden felt lighter.

But, before I get ahead of myself, I think we need to understand the burden that Jesus is talking about in this passage… the burden that we all carry.  The burden that we bear is the one that Paul wrote of in his letter to the Romans… the text that Sylma read to you this morning.  It was Paul’s greatest frustration that, despite knowing what was right and righteous, he was never able to live a life that was free from sin.  Oh, he fought against the temptations that confronted him, but too often, he succumbed to them.  His very humanity betrayed him each time… and his human weakness led him into sin.  He knew that what he did was wrong… was sin… and that only increased his burden.  Before he knew Jesus Christ as his Savior, he was blithely ignorant of the sin that he committed… the sin around him.  But, as a follower… as a disciple… he was very conscious of his sin… and the sin of the world… and it became a burden that grew daily.

In our text today, Jesus thanks his Father in heaven… "because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants.”  How many of the “wise and intelligent” of this world go through each day unaware… or unconcerned… that their actions have consequences… that the things they do and say hurt others?  In contrast, how many infants… young children… know more clearly the boundary between right and wrong than those of us who are “older and wiser?”   Brian Stoffregen, a Lutheran pastor, says that his “hunch is that the "wise and intelligent" and those in the Jewish towns who felt that they were the privileged children of God, [were] also those who are unable to admit their powerlessness or their inabilities.” Are we unaware… or simply unable to admit… that we are powerless against sin?  Is it only revealed to those who have a simple faith?  Is that why Paul said that God chose what was foolish to shame the wise?

For many of us, looking back at our lives through the cross of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice he made there, it makes perfect sense for Jesus to say to Paul… and to any of us:  "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”   It seems that Jesus invites us to lay down our burdens.  But, if that is so, then the rest of the text makes no sense at all.  “Take my yoke upon you,” Jesus says, “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."  Why, if one desires rest, would one take a yoke?  A yoke is something that a beast of burden wears when it is working… not when it is resting.  Why would we take any yoke… or, how can we rest, if we take a yoke… for a yoke is designed to help us work harder… or to do hard work more easily?   And why would Jesus’ yoke be easy?

There are several pieces of information that may help us understand this passage.  First, we need to examine what happens when two animals are yoked together. When an immature animal is yoked to a mature animal, the immature animal learns from the mature animal how to pull the burden.  Two immature animals yoked together can result in pure chaos and absolutely no progress in the transport of the burden.  But yoked with a mature animal, the immature animal learns to pace itself and to pull steadily so that the burden moves forward toward its destination.

Secondly, while, ideally, both animals that are yoked together equally pull the weight of the burden, the reality is that the stronger animal bears most of the weight of the burden.  Thus, it is possible for the weaker animal to rest while yoked to a stronger animal.  In this context, we are invited to take Jesus’ yoke… or to be yoked with Jesus.  This obviously allows us some respite, for we are yoked to a stronger partner in God’s work.

Thirdly, the word that is translated “rest” from the Greek can also be translated “tranquility”, “peace” or “rest for the soul.”  An example of this may be found in Jeremiah 6:16, where it says “Thus says the Lord:  Stand at the crossroads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.”  The rest that Jesus promises is not the “eternal rest” of death… though this passage is often quoted at funerals… nor is it the rest that comes with collapsing in a recliner and putting your feet up.  The weary are those who struggle with the paradoxes of daily living… with the constant pressure to succumb to sin… with the endless fight against the forces of evil.  The “rest” that Jesus promises is the peace that we find when we walk with him… when we are yoked to him… and the complexities of life fall away within the simplicity of faith.  Trusting in Jesus and his word allows us to walk beside him with the confidence to deal with daily life.

Finally, the Greek word that is translated “easy” here, means “well-fitting.”  The yoke that Jesus offers is one that fits us.  Not that the work is simple… but that the yoke allows us to use our full potential in our work.  It is a yoke that is made for us.

Putting all this together, we see that, yoked to Jesus, we can learn from him… walk beside him with confidence… allow him to carry most of our burdens… have the respite that we need from the frustrations and futility of daily living… and gain the peace we desire from the knowledge that he is there.  Do we need anything more?   "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, 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.”  Jesus invites us to come… to share our burdens… to learn from him… to share the feast that he has prepared… to find rest for our souls.  Today, in his name, I invite you to come.  Amen.

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30