Good morning…
Over Thanksgiving our oldest son said, “Mom, I’m reading this book I think you’d really like.” So I opened the beautifully textured hard cover and cozied up to read a few chapters. Here is one quote that taught me more deeply why Jesus coming to earth matters profoundly. The living presence of our loving Lord might be the only thing getting us out of bed on hard, heavy mornings.
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Excerpt from Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers by Dane Ortlund, pages 22-23
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30).
The word translated “easy” in his statement, “My yoke is easy,” needs to be carefully understood. Jesus is not saying life is free of pain and hardship. This is the same word elsewhere translated “kind” – as in, for example, Ephesians 4:32: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted” (also Rom. 2:4). Consider what Jesus is saying. A yoke is the heavy crossbar laid on oxen to force them to drag farming equipment through the field. Jesus is using a kind of irony, saying that the yoke laid on his disciples is a nonyoke. For it is a yoke of kindness. Who could resist this?
It’s like telling a drowning man that he must put on the burden of a life preserver only to hear him shout back, sputtering, “No way! Not me! This is hard enough, drowning here in these stormy waters. The last thing I need is the added burden of a life preserver around my body!” That’s what we all are like, confessing Christ with our lips but generally avoiding deep fellowship with him, out of a muted understanding in our heart.
His yoke is kind and his burden is light. That is, his yoke is a nonyoke, and his burden is a nonburden. What helium does to a balloon, Jesus’s yoke does to his followers. We are buoyed along in life by his endless gentleness and supremely accessible lowliness. He doesn’t simply meet us at our place of need; he lives in our place of need. He never tires of sweeping us into his tender embrace. It is his very heart. It is what gets him out of bed in the morning.
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I have never thought of the kind yoke of Christ being like a life preserver filled with helium. If we say, “Yes, Jesus, I will take on your yoke. I will walk in step with you at the pace of your grace,” then we are buoyed by his endless gentleness and his lowly accessibility to all who are heavy laden. The living Christ doesn’t simply meet us at our place of need. He lives yoked right beside us in our place of need, kindly content to do life’s heavy lifting.
Considering this light, easy yoke with me, will you envision strapping Christ’s helium-filled life preserver around your body each day? Being tenderly yoked to our living Lord is the only thing that will get us out of bed some hard, heavy mornings.
…Sue…
P.S. Thank you, Laura Deisley, for this simple photo of your hand hewn yoke.
P.S.S. Yesterday I was buoyed by a visit to Ella Herlihy’s home where she has set up a delightful Christmas Artist Market to benefit Blue Skies Ministries in honor of our sweet friend Abby Smith, who went to heaven at age seven. Blue Skies Ministries is a non-profit ministry bringing the hope of Christ to families living through the challenges of pediatric cancer at weeklong beach retreats. Days are filled with kindness, hope, friendships and activities that give families much-needed time together away from hospitals, clinics and chaos.
Stop, shop, and tell Ella, “Sue sent me!”
