Matthew 11

An Easy Yoke

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me.... For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:29-30.

If you walked in the fields in Palestine, and watched the plowing, you would notice that it was done not with horses, as with us, but with oxen. And these oxen, instead of collars such as our horses wear, have on their necks what is called a yoke. It is a straight piece of wood laid across the necks of two oxen. It is made to fit their necks by fixing into it two pairs of wooden pegs, slanting so as to catch the nape of the neck, and it is secured under the neck by a chain or a leather thong. The plough is then fastened with thongs to a ring in the middle of the yoke. The yoke is just the wooden harness which enables the oxen to draw the plough or the cart.

1. The yoke, then, is not a burden on the ox; it is to help it to draw its burden. But if the yoke does not fit, it will hurt the animal. You may often see horses with sores on their necks caused by the collar chafing them. Their yoke is not easy. When Jesus Christ was a carpenter, part of His work would be to make wooden yokes, and we may be sure He took care to make them fit as well as possible.

Now everybody has some burden to draw in this world, some yoke to bear, for everybody must take a share in the world's work. Life is a serious thing, and we are not put here merely to play. Sometimes grown-up people speak as though children had no burdens. But that is only because they have forgotten. You know best your own troubles, but I am sure you have some. Perhaps you have work or lessons to do which you do not like. Perhaps you feel stupid, or shy. Perhaps you have some bad habit which you are trying hard to break. The burden must be drawn somehow, but a great deal depends on the kind of harness you are wearing. Christ offers you a yoke to help you to draw, and He says it is “easy.” It will not hurt you, it will help you, for, as somebody once said, “It is lined with love.”

2. Did you notice that when I was describing a yoke I spoke of oxen, not an ox? That was because a yoke is made for two, not one. And it is the same with the yoke which Christ offers you. It is made for two. He is one and you are the other. If you take this yoke He shares it with you and carries half the burden. No wonder then that His burden is light. If you love Him, and He loves you, and you both pull together, the burdens of life will be less than half as heavy. Love itself will lighten the load.

A little girl was seen struggling along with a great heavy baby in her arms. “Isn't he too heavy for you?” asked a lady who was passing. “Na,” was the reply; “he's ma brither.”

3. But there is one important thing we must not forget. It is this. If you look at today's text again you will see that Christ says “and learn of me.” What does that mean?

Do you know how they teach a young ox to bear the yoke? They choose a steady, well-trained ox for one-half of the yoke, and they put the other half of the yoke on the neck of the young beast. When it feels the pressure on its neck it begins to rear and plunge. It even tries to lie down. It kicks out wildly behind, but that does not mend matters; for the man who guides the team has a long iron-tipped stick called a goad, and when the ox kicks it kicks against the goad and pricks itself badly.

But all this time the other ox is going steadily on, and later the young beast realizes that it is only hurting itself by rebelling. It finds that the more it struggles the more the yoke galls, and that the more it kicks the worse the goad pricks. So at last it submits and falls into step with its companion. And then it finds that the very thing that seemed difficult is easy, and that what hurt is a help.

Boys and girls, it is the same with us, whether we be young or old. If we try to throw off life's yokes and refuse to carry life's burdens we shall be as miserable as that stupid young ox. We have got to learn from Christ how to carry them. We have got to imitate Him. He alone can teach us how to bear the yoke that is easy and carry the burden that is light.

He will show us the way. And helping us and showing us the way, He will see that our burden is never too heavy for us. Two little boys were helping to spring-clean the books in their father's study. “See here, Jim,” said the elder to the younger “that pile of books is too heavy for you.” “No, it's not,” sturdily replied Jim. “Daddy gave it me, and he knows exactly how much I can carry.” Yes, boys and girls, never doubt it. If you are wearing Christ's yoke and bearing His burden He knows exactly how much you can carry, and He will see that your burden is never too heavy for you to bear.