"My Yoke" and My Yoke

Yoke is a weird word when you say it repeatedly.

Recently I have been considering this passage of scripture from Matthew 11 in the New Testament:

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

I think I have trouble distinguishing between my yoke and "my yoke," or Christ's yoke. I think if someone asked me a few weeks ago what it means to take Christ's yoke upon me, I would have said something like doing what Christ has commanded, living as He lived. I would have understood it to mean assuming Christ's yoke, or burden.

So what are some of the things Christ commanded me (and everyone) to do? Usually pretty easy stuff, right? Like this gem: love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you (Matt. 5:44; 3 Nephi 12:44). And easiest of all: be ye therefore perfect (Matt. 5:48). When I consider these requirements I usually fail to see how they are compatible with verse 30 above. Christ says His burden is light and the yoke is easy! Something must be lost in translation!

The error is in my understanding of these scriptures and how they apply to me. Too often I forget that a yoke isn't simply a burden put on my shoulders, but is a tool to help share a burden (here is a good explanation). If I take the sum of Christ's commandments and make every effort to live them, I will fail. And that is a heavy burden. If I share the yoke with Christ, I will succeed, because I am yoked to an Omnipotent Being. There is no burden He can't carry. He makes the burden light and easy. A great example of this comes from the Book of Mormon, where a righteous people are being oppressed. When they pray for deliverance from the Lord, this is the response they get:

13 Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

At that point the burden was still there, the people still oppressed. But the yoke was being shared with Christ, and the burdens became light (spoiler: eventually they are delivered completely).

In summary, taking Christ's yoke upon me does mean doing as He would do and living as He lived. But it also means doing it with His help.

Forrest
--Who is beginning to understand this principle, but still struggling in the application of it.