JULY52020

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me … For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” Jesus used an image that his hearers would readily understand this a yoke was something they saw often. However, a yoke is not part of our everyday experience it might help to provide a definition: A yoke is a wooden beam normally used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs. When Jesus invites us to take on his yoke he wants us to know that he is willing to pair up with us in carrying the load. Think of the loads we carry: family troubles, illness, money worries, grief, loneliness, fear, the list goes on but you get the idea. The mistake we make it to think that we have to carry all of this ourselves, that we have to find our own way through. Jesus wants us to understand that he is standing right beside us, helping us to carry whatever we are going through. There was a popular book when I was in college, Are you running with me, Jesus? A happy thought but today’s gospel suggests even more. When things are a slough, even when we feel like we are plodding along, Jesus remains by our side pulling his share of the load.  I will be with you, Jesus says, through it all.