Yoke is Easy; Burden is Light

Then spoke Jesus, saying, Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavily loaded, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. And you shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 6:8). This does not mean what many think it means. Men think easy and light mean they will be required to do practically nothing. Christ’s yoke IS easy because it spares men from the afflictions, diseases, indignities, disappointments, and fears they inevitably encounter when their life is adrift in sin. Christ’s burden is light because they are rescued from the corruption, confusion, degradation, and slavery imposed on them by a malignant culture urging vanity, selfishness, and pride as virtues. “Even if the world then hates you, being reconciled with Christ will free you from the control the world’s hate attempts to exercise over you.”¹