Yokes

Our Lord Jesus Christ once said: "Take My yoke upon you." What is a yoke? Years ago the people living in villages had to go to the "village pump" for water, as in those days it was not laid on to the cottages. Men and women, yes, and boys and girls too, could often be seen in those old days with pieces of wood so cut that they fitted across the shoulders. At each end of this wooden yoke a chain or rope was fixed with hooks attached to receive the buckets in which the water was carried. It was real hard work carrying two heavy buckets of water for perhaps a mile or so, and made the shoulders ache terribly. Those yokes, therefore, seem to suggest hard work. Our Lord, however, was referring to another kind of yoke. In those days oxen were used to pull the ploughs across the fields, and they were generally yoked together in pairs.

The hard work of pulling the plough was thus shared by the two animals, both had equal work to perform. When Christ said, "Take My yoke upon you," he meant that He is willing to take one end of the yoke, and invites us to take the other. This fastens us to Him, He is sharing the load with us. He invites us to take His yoke upon us, so that He can, and will, share the work, the trouble, the difficulty, the trial, with us. He is willing to help boys and girls with hard lessons and tasks, in performing kind deeds and aiding others, as well as in overcoming temptations. How lovely it is to know that we may have someone to help us just when we need it most—One who is willing to share our load with us. He asks us to take His yoke upon us for that very purpose.

How near it brings us to Him if we are yoked to Him! We must, however, keep in step with Him, or else we shall find that the yoke will chafe us, and perhaps hurt Him. When we "take His yoke upon us" we cannot fail, unless He does, and, that is impossible. We shall also succeed where He succeeds. Surely this is the best life that we can have, a life that is yoked to the life of Jesus.