Light Burdens

By Lisa Greey –

How many times do you hit the snooze button when your alarms goes off?  I hit mine at least two times, if not more!  Maybe the lyrics from that Bruno Mars song play in your head at that moment: “Today I don’t feel like doing anything/I just want to lay in my bed” (The Lazy Song).  Perhaps if we feel this way, it’s a sign that we need more rest!  Today Jesus claims he can offer us “rest” from our burdens and an easy yoke to carry.  Does this simply mean we need 10 extra minutes of sleep in the morning, or are we talking about something much deeper?  Let’s look at the verse from the end of the gospel today:

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Now just what is a yoke?  Well, it typically is a piece of wood that holds two animals, like oxen, together so they can plow a field more effectively, or pull a large load.  The people in Christ’s time would have understood this metaphor well as they were familiar with farming.   The spiritual meaning of the metaphor, though, applies to us today.  We can live our lives alone and isolated.  We can keep our faith at a distance.  We can think about God as a far off idea.  OR we can commit to living our lives with Christ.  We can live our lives for Christ.  We can follow him, talk to him, learn from him, be forgiven by him.  This things can only happen if we are close to him, like the two oxen in a yoke.

Let’s tease out these two ideas a bit more: light burdens and easy yokes.  If we follow Christ, we’ll have these blessings.  Well, I don’t know about you but I have felt at times that following Christ is anything but easy and light.  When everyone else seems to be having sex with their boyfriends, and I’m trying to stay pure in my relationship it is HARD.  When a friend’s mom is diagnosed with cancer and she wants to know why God allowed that to happy, I feel HEAVY in my heart.  So what exactly is Christ getting at here?  Life is hard!  Well, we have to take a step back and see that Christ is not saying life will be a walk in the park if we follow him, but that we won’t be alone and we will receive grace for following him, for doing the right thing.  We will have peace deep in our souls, despite whatever waves are crashing on the surface.  God asks us to follow him, but we don’t always see where he is leading.  We can’t see the solutions to problems, the meaning of suffering, the benefit of standing out and doing the right thing.  But we CAN know, deep in our souls, that our God is a God of love, mercy, genteness and compassion.  We are in the good moments and the bad moments with Christ.  Being with him gives us lighter burdens and easier yokes.

St. Augustine once prayed to God, “Thou hast formed us for thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in thee.”  Is your heart restless from the burdens in your life?  Do you have a lot of stress and anxeity?  What are your worries … grades? Where to go to college? Family relationships?  Making enough money?  We’ve all had sleepless nights worrying!  I certainly have, but my relationship with God has enabled me to trust him.  Trust requires surrender of our plans and ideas to God.  The amazing thing is, for all the difficulty of trusting and following Christ, I have never regretted it.  I have a deep peace, even when things get difficult.  I’ve experienced my heart “resting” in the Lord, and it is unlike any other remedy for handling life’s burdens and difficulties.  This Sunday, spend some time thinking about your burdens and how you can surrender them to Christ.  Bring your “restlessness” to him and you will experience Christ ease your burdens and give you rest of body and soul!  That will help you far more than pushing snooze on your alarm!