"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."
- Matthew 11:25-30
At times when we read the Gospels, it can seem that what Jesus is asking us to do is too much. Turn the other cheek. Love our enemies. Forgive everyone. It can seem like such a high bar to clear that we will never stand a chance of making it. We look at ourselves, with all our imperfections, and think there is no way we can ever measure up. We can become overwhelmed at the seemingly unattainable goal that has been set for us. In its extreme, we can become discouraged and begin to lose hope.
But in this Gospel, Jesus gives us hope. When we feel overwhelmed, we are told to turn to Jesus – that He will give us rest. We are to take His “yoke upon [us]” and we will find rest. This image of the yoke is an interesting one. One could make the mistake that taking Jesus’s yoke upon our shoulders implies sharing in Jesus’s suffering. This is not the image Jesus was intending. Rather, when we yoke two animals together, the idea is that the yoke helps them share the burden of the task they are performing. So when Jesus tells us to take His yoke upon our shoulders, He is telling us that He wants to share our burden – He wants to lighten our load.
When we turn to God – at Mass, in prayer – we can be assured that He will comfort us. Whenever, we feel overburdened or worn out form our efforts to live a Christian life, we know that Jesus will be there for us to provide us with a spiritual boost. He is the one we can always count on when time gets tough. This is why it is so important to pray and receive the Eucharist frequently. In doing these two things, we grow closer to Jesus. We are strengthened for the trials that we will face as Christians. Just as we turn to our close friends and family when faced with a tough decision, we should turn to Jesus when faced with challenges within our lives. We should not be afraid to talk it out with Him – to share our hopes and fears, our questions and concerns. Whatever we are feeling, we are told to bring it to Jesus, to lay it before his feet and to take His yoke upon our shoulders. If we do this, we will surely find rest and peace.