“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.”

Mathew 11:28-30

(Inspired from the Sunday sermon by a Catholic Priest)

Perhaps this is one of the most comforting words in the Gospel for many of us in many troubling . Particularly when Jesus says:

“Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest”

He invites us to approach Him and surrender all our burdens: worries, anxieties, (more importantly) our sins, sinful desires and weaknesses.

All the unnecessary baggage that we carry that burdens our life.

But surprisingly, he does not stop there, he continues to say:

“Shoulder my yoke and learn from me”.

What is a “yoke”? The literal meaning is “a wooden crosspiece that is fastened over the necks of two animals and attached to the plow or cart that they are to pull.”.

Wait, just now Jesus promised rest and in the next line he asks us to “Shoulder his yoke”, is that not contradicting? 

The most important thing to take note here is, he is offering to carry the yoke (the crosspiece) together with us. Imagine your best friend working with you as a colleague in a very challenging project. Would you not feel happy to work alongside your best friend, even if the work is very challenging? 

Yes, the company of a beloved friend can lighten the challenging work and make us feel happy. Then how much more should we feel happy that Jesus our Beloved Lord, the darling of Heaven, the King of kings, the creator of heaven and earth, the one who died for us on the cross, the Risen Christ is willing to join in our journey and make light the burdens we carry. 

Back in the Christ’s way of the cross, Jesus was the wounded and Simon was the helper. Now, in our personal journey in this world, we are the wounded and the Holy Spirit of the resurrected Christ Jesus is our helper.

It is very important to realize that cross is a personal invite from Jesus to join him, to follow his footsteps by mortifying our human self, to sacrifice our sinful nature and thereby to fulfill God’s will, for the salvation of ourselves and others. 

The good news is, the story does not end there.

“The spirit who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.” (Romans 8:11)

Am I willing to shoulder the yoke of Jesus, follow him and find rest ?