I had two different conversations with two different people I’m close to this week, and my heart hurt for them because of all the burdens they are carrying. Sometimes life is messy and difficult and the burdens become too much to carry. I know because I’ve been there. And then in the midst of those conversations, I read in my morning time this week what Jesus had to say about it.

Carrying Heavy Burdens

This passage in the book of Matthew has always eluded me. I think some of Jesus’ words are supposed to do that. We were not created in our finite minds to understand infinte things. But I also think that some passages of Scripture become more clear the longer we study them. I think this is one of those passages. I don’t know that I’ll ever truly understand it, but the older I get, the more I study it, the clearer it becomes.

 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30 NLT

I read this passage this week in my morning time, and it troubled me…as it usually does. Jesus tells us that the burden He gives is light, but how is that possible when our burdens feel so heavy? I couldn’t help but think of my friends who are going through such difficult times right now. How can Jesus’ burdens be lighter than the ones they’re already carrying? And why on earth would we want to carry more burdens?

Jesus’ Call

Jesus first puts out a call. It’s a call to those who are weary, tired, and are carrying heavy burdens. Does that sound like you or anybody you know? My hand is raised; I think that’s pretty much everybody…and Jesus knew that. We all struggle first under the load of sin, guilt, and shame. Jesus was putting out a call to those who were burdened by sin and brokenness to come to Him and find a different way to do life.

The call also goes out to those of us still striving to do things on our own. We get crushed under the weight and burdens of this world–financial trouble, pressures, loss of a job, a divorce, a child that walks away from God, a dream that isn’t fulfilled, the loss of a loved one…the list goes on and on. Those troubles build up, and the burdens become too heavy to carry. So Jesus puts out the call and says come to me.

Jesus’ Offer

What does he offer in exchange for our heavy burdens? Rest. It’s not the kind of rest you get from taking a nap when you’re exhausted. No, it goes far deeper than that. It’s a kind of soul rest–the kind of rest that only Jesus can give.

But he doesn’t stop there. He continues the thought. He tells us how we can get the rest we seek. At this point, we rush forward because we want to find that rest. So how do we find it?

Jesus says, “Take my yoke on you…and you will find rest for your soul.”

Understanding the Yoke

Okay, I’m not too much into farming, but even I know what a yoke is. And the last time I saw two oxen yoked together, it wasn’t because they were napping! It’s this oxymoron. Jesus says if you want rest, take my yoke on you. It’s seems so counterintuitive. It makes absolutely no sense…until we understand the job of a yoke.

A yoke is something that’s been around since somewhere around 4000BC, so it’s not something new. And it’s something the people of Jesus’ day would have understood even more clearly than we do today. The job of a yoke is to distribute the weight of whatever the two ox are carrying evenly, not just between the two oxen but also on the ox itself. The yoke helps to distribute the weight evenly on the shoulders of the ox. So not only does it make the job easier on the ox itself, but when you yoke two oxen together, they can more than double the load they carry. A single oxen can carry around 5,000 pounds. Two oxen together can carry around 15,000 pounds.

Understanding Jesus’ Teaching

Jesus makes the statement, “You will find rest for your soul.” I don’t think there’s a person in this world that doesn’t crave rest for their soul–a rest from the pressures and worries of this world, a break from sin and guilt and shame, a rest that’s so deep, it brings peace to our very soul.

And yet, Jesus says the way to find this rest is to take his yoke on us. He continues the thought in the next verse when he says, “For my yoke is easy to bear, and my burden is light.” There’s that word again. Burden. Jesus giving us a burden to bear seems to go against everything he’s taught us. And yet, those are his words.

Jesus’ Burden

When we yoke up with Jesus, we don’t have to carry the burden by ourself any longer. Now Jesus carries it along with us. And we already know that two people can carry a much greater weight than a single person can (two oxen yoked together compared to one). When we attach ourselves to Jesus, the load becomes a lot easier to bear because we’re no longer pulling it by ourselves. And our capacity to bear up under that burden becomes stronger because we can pull a greater weight.

Jesus tells us that after we yoke up with him, the burden is light because his burden is light. Could it be that the burden doesn’t change weight? Think about this. An ox has to drag a cart that’s 5,000 pounds by itself. If you yoke it up to another ox, that 5,000 pounds isn’t going to feel nearly as heavy. You could even add another two or three thousand pounds, and it’s still going to feel lighter than carrying 5,000 pounds by itself.

So when Jesus says, yoke up with me and carry my burden, it’s still going to be lighter than the burdens we’ve been carrying on our own. He also says is burden is easy and his yoke is light. And I have a feeling the burden he wants us to carry looks a lot more like loving people and telling them about Jesus than agonizing over our finances, our job, or our failures.

Practically Speaking

So what does it look like to yoke up with Jesus and to carry his burden? I think it looks a lot like getting up each morning and spending time with him first thing through a morning time routine and using that time to give him our burdens and to ask what burden he has for us to carry. Then it looks like loving people and following the Holy Spirit’s guiding and prompting throughout the day.

It’s refusing to drown in our own burdens and instead focus on what Jesus wants us to. It’s a shifting of our focus from ourselves to God and what his plan for our life is, not our own.

If you’re feeling the weight of your burdens today, it’s because you’re trying to carry them on your own; and you’re not designed to carry them on your own. Instead, give those burdens to God and ask for his burden instead. Yoke yourself to God and see if that load doesn’t become a whole lot lighter!

More Encouragement

For more encouragement on this topic, read my post, Find Freedom from the Burdens Weighing You Down or snag a copy of our 30-Day Devotional, You Are Not Alone.