Read

Matthew 11:25-30

Leo was bushed. He had just finished a 60-hour workweek and was both tired and sore. It was all he could do to slide into his car and make the trip back to his home, and all he could think about was getting as much sleep as possible. Just before he started his car, get got a call from his best friend, Cal.

“Hey Leo,” Cal said cheerily. “How did the week go?”

“OK, I guess,” replied Leo. “But I’m so tired and worn down. I can’t even think straight.”

“If you’re really tired, I know exactly what you can do. You won’t believe how well this works.”

Leo was intrigued. “I’m open to anything, Cal.”

“Well,” said Cal, “all you have to do is come over and help me do some yard work. Once you start to push that lawnmower, you won’t believe how much better you’ll feel.”

You can imagine how Leo would have felt to hear that solution. It seems ridiculous, right? But that’s exactly what Jesus seemed to be suggesting in Matthew 11 when he said that people who were “weary and heavy laden” should take up his “yoke.”

That term is foreign to a lot of people, but it was a farming term that many, if not most, people who heard it would have understood. The yoke is the harness oxen wear that enables them to pull a plow. So, in essence, it sounded like Jesus was telling people who were tired to pull even harder, and that would make them feel better. But when you dig a little deeper, you get a much different message.

Oxen were typically teamed in an equal pairing and were trained together so that both oxen would pull equally. But Jesus gives us another image. Instead of an equal pairing, Jesus lets us know that in this pairing we will “learn from me.” His yoke is easy and His burden is light because He will be doing most of the pulling. We will get rest because we will let Him do the heavy lifting, and He’s perfectly willing and even eager to do that for us.

We encounter so many problems in our daily lives that we contend with in our own strength. We wear ourselves silly by twisting and turning over every problem, insisting that we will find the solutions to everything without any help from the Lord. But Jesus turns to us and says, “You’re tired and you need rest. Let me shoulder your load with you and walk alongside you in this process. Let me take the lead on this journey so that you can relax. Trust me. I can help you solve this problem.”

Too many times we make the mistake of thinking that God needs to be saved for only the major things in life. Unemployment. Housing problems. Money problems. Broken relationships. Divorce. Cancer. COVID-19. But the Lord knows that most of our energy comes from our daily encounters. Grumpy co-workers. Bad drivers. A disobedient child. An argument with your spouse. Terrible stories in the news. The common cold. If He’s big enough to help us through the death of a loved one, He’s definitely big enough to help us through daily life.

Today, make sure that you allow the Lord to slip His yoke over your head. Let him start to pull your plow down whatever path you’re traveling. It might not always be easy, but you’ll definitely find that you can breathe easier when the Master of all creation takes the weight from your shoulders and places it upon His own.

Reflection copyright © 2025 Doug DeBolt.