Take On His Yoke

For the longest time ever, I did not know what a yoke is! Even though I grew up poor, I lived in the city of Saigon and did not have much interaction with the farming life. However, my earliest conscious recollection and memory of a yoke was from a visit to one of my aunts and her family, who were living in the countryside. I finally saw how a yoke was used and its essential purpose. Hence, it helped me to better understand what the Lord Jesus Christ meant when He told us to take on His yoke. (cf. Matthew 11:25-30)

First of all, the Lord told us to take on HIS yoke — not ours or anyone else. It is so important to remember this small but essential detail! In our life of discipleship, we are given the yoke of the Savior and Redeemer. He did not promise that if we follow Him, there would be no burden. He only promised that if we come to Him, our burden will be light! Therefore, to expect and demand a life of discipleship without burdens, trials, or hardships is to expect something that is impossible and contrary to the truth and what the Lord wants of us.

When I did hospital chaplaincy as a seminarian, I remembered encountering many cases where people thought that they failed to do something or did not do something right, so that was why they ended up in the hospital. They often thought that it was their lack of faith or trust that caused them to be there! Perhaps in some ways, but that is not always the case. We as Americans oftentimes think that God‘s love and His favor are dependent on us and our doings because we are doers and busybodies. It is sad that we oftentimes define things objectively, contractually, transactionally, or beneficially alone. If we simply boil down our relationship with God as “If I do something, I get something,” we would miss the whole point of a loving, genuine relationship, as we objectify the relationship as something transactional or benefit-based. Our God is not petty where He keeps track of everything and demands that we are on our A’s game all the time! That is impossible because we are weak, even with our best intentions.

The Almighty asked us to be faithful to Him, to walk with Him, and to take on His yoke to work for the Kingdom. Each day will have its own burdens and trials, its own ups and downs, its own blessings and storms, but even in the midst of everything, we can still plow the field with Him. Even in our darkest days and hardest trials, we are not alone, for the Lord is with us, for He is walking side by side if we are willing to come to Him to rest and take upon ourselves His yoke. This is our freedom and source of joy… that He is with us! No matter how trying our life of discipleship can be at times, we are not alone, and the greatest gift has always been given to us. Our joy lies in the freedom from slavery to sins, to live as sons and daughters of God, disciples of Christ, and instruments of the Holy Spirit without fears, reservations, popular opinions, manipulations, or the mundaneness of this world if we come to Him for rest.

When we allow ourselves to be who we are by seeking true freedom in Christ Jesus, we become liberated from the slavery of sins, the yokes of demonic and worldly lies. The unconditional love of God received transforms us deep from within so we can selflessly love Him and serve others in true humility instead of self-centered glories or pretensions. Truly, there is a way out from our own social and worldly cynicism, which locks us in our self-created hell of endless anger, resentment, and frustrations. There is a way to overcome the demonic yokes of fear by seeing ourselves as we are, honestly, genuinely, and transparently in and through the eyes of the One who created us out of love for love.

Therefore, let us ask ourselves the honest question of whether we want to be locked up in our own world or be of the Lord‘s. Which one are we willing to follow and willing to give ourselves to be under? I know that I might fail from time to time. I might let the things of this world creep in from time to time. I might become too occupied with other things. However, as long as you and I identify our weaknesses and are honest with where we have been and where we need to be, we can always make the right choice in returning to Him. We can always do a daily examination of conscience by being honest with ourselves: How have we sought and glorified Him today, and how have we failed to humbly love Him and lovingly serve others?

We tend to give up when we feel that we are unable to fix things our way, control our environment, or feel too overwhelmed with whatever is going on around us. Once we have given up, we become hopeless, simply living from one momentary pleasure to the next, chasing after temporary hedonism, hoping that they will make us happy, but they only end up as ways for us to self-medicate, cover, ignore, or deny the emptiness and hidden pains deep within. As we get objectified and objectify others, we excuse ourselves by saying that we are only trying to do what is most beneficial or being pragmatic. However, we forget that we remain and often end up being treated as objects in the worldly game of manipulation and its well-packaged lies. This vicious cycle binds people under its yoke of slavery and endless tortures of cynicism and falsehood until we seek the higher and transcendental truths. This worldly despair and hopelessness that sprang from our loss of self-identity and knowledge can only be overcome with trust in the Lord.

Our burden becomes heavy when we drag it alone. It becomes harder when we try to avoid it. However, its burden becomes light and yoke sweetened when we unite it with the Lord. He has never given us anything more than what we cannot handle! Even though it might be burdensome and hard at times, we do not have to carry or drag it alone, for the Lord will help us if we offer and unite it with Him. Each and every one of us is given a particular burden to carry; some are visible while others are invisible, but we all have to carry it. Even though it is easy to think that we do not deserve it, we are each given what is meaningful and dear to our Lord because it was the instrument of His love for humanity, and the gift given to His disciples. Hence, when we reject it, our lives are easily filled with bitterness and resentment, but when we accept it, our lives are opened to new opportunities of grace. I am not here to say that our burden is easy, but it is worthwhile because we are never alone. The Lord is always with us, giving us enough grace to carry it with humility and gratitude if we are willing to accept it out of love for Him.

The truth is that, oftentimes, we are very impatient and would like to see the result of our hard work and sacrifices right away or in a short time. Yet, in the field of mission works, we are called to be faithful in cultivating, toiling, and plowing the field without expecting an immediate harvest. In our lives as Christians, we are called to plant the seeds and allow them to grow in their due time instead of expecting to see them to fruition. Oftentimes, it is our expectations and demands that choke the growth of the Kingdom in His own divine providence. We can plant and toil, care and lead, but it is always the Lord who brings all things to completion in His own time. Hence, our roles have always been His loving instruments of peace, disciples, and children instead of the ones in control.

If we decrease so that Christ increases and captivates our hearts, we will be able to radiate and point all to Him. When He is the center of our lives, we are able to share and help people lift their hearts to something higher than the mundaneness of this world. When we ground and anchor ourselves in His love, we will be able to live and be ourselves without worrying about what others think of us. When Jesus is the center of our lives, we no longer have to pretend, worry, or act like someone that we are not. Hence, the truest freedom is to be who God wants us to be and to be free from all the meaningless, ever-changing, empty, or short-lived ideas, progress, or revolutions that lead to nowhere. If we know who we are and where we are going, there is no fear for we know who possesses our heart and where our true love is found! Truly, what can we truly profit and gain if we get the whole world but lose our souls? (cf. Matthew 16:26)