My Yoke Is Easy

«Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest [...]. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.» Matthew 11:28-30

Ask your mom to show you a picture of a yoke, or an oxbow. The yoke is a piece of wood fitted for a pair of oxen and secured under their necks by a strip of braided leather. Then the oxen are attached to a cart or plow. Farmers used to do this so that they would gather more strength and the animals wouldn’t run out in front of each other and overturn the cart or make a mess of the ground instead of getting it ready for seed.

They would choose animals that were strong and could slow down the cart, or plow on a downhill slope or even uphill.

Jesus said that He would give relief to all the people who were suffering. He also said that they should take His yoke. What does this mean? Jesus doesn’t want us to suffer alone. He wants us to put our suffering on Him for Him to help us, just as one ox helps the other by sharing the weight of the cart or the work.

Let’s practice!

Repeat the verse: “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest [...]. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).