Take my yoke upon you … 

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)

A few weeks ago, I took my daughters swimming and gave one a piggyback in the pool. She’s only 5, and with the extra help of the water, she’s easy to carry. But, in an attempt to try to splash her big sister she ended up hanging off my neck at a rather odd angle. All was fine until the next morning I woke with what felt like whiplash! I’ve learnt a lesson there - when carrying a load, I need to do it safely, or I’ll get hurt!
 
This lesson is of course true for carrying physical loads, but it’s also true for the mental and emotional loads that we carry. We can’t avoid carrying mental and emotional loads in this life, because it goes hand in hand with caring. When we love people, then we can’t help but feel the weight of compassion and concern for them.  And when things are not going well for those we love, we feel the weight of sadness at what they are going through. When we care about people, we can’t help but feel the weight of anger when we see them mistreated. There are also health, relational and financial loads that we can’t avoid carrying.
 
But Jesus has an invitation to help us to carry these burdens safely; in His words, “Take my yoke upon you.”
 
If, like me, you’re not an expert in farming, then the picture above helps to show us what a yoke is. It’s a wooden beam that sits on the shoulders of an ox to help distribute the load they are pulling, so that they can pull it safely. But it is also designed to yoke together two oxen so that they can pull the load together. Jesus invites us to yoke with Him so that He can help us to carry the load.  He lightens the burden of compassion and concern by reminding us that He loves those we love too, and is at work in ways that we can’t be. He lightens the burden of despair by reminding us that through Him we have Hope, and that He is the God of restoration and rescue. Amidst the very real challenges of life, He is the God who can give us peace that surpasses all understanding. He lightens the burden of sadness by weeping with us and comforting us. He lightens the burden of anger we feel from mistreatment, by reminding us that He is the God of justice.
 
Are we carrying our mental and emotional loads safely, or do we need to hear afresh Jesus’ invitation to take His yoke upon us?
 
Prayer - Lord Jesus, thank you for your invitation to help us carry the burdens of life. Help us to take your yoke upon us and hear your gentle voice of compassion, care, reassurance and hope. Amen.
 
Photo by Tom Munnecke, Oxen in yoke in Williamsburg