Removing Our Self Imposed Yokes

A yoke was a wooden crosspiece that was placed around the necks of two animals and attached to the plow or cart that the animals were pulling.  Yokes were also used on human beings who were enslaved or imprisoned to prevent escape and for public humiliation.

Last week in the epistle lesson from Paul's letter to the Romans, Paul said that we have two choices: we can either be slaves to righteousness or slaves to sin.  There are, simply, no other choices, and any perception of true autonomy or freedom is an illusion.  This week in Matthew's gospel, Jesus echoes Paul's position in the letter to Romans by stating that God's yoke is easy and his burden is light. 

The idea of an "easy and light" yoke cuts against the very notion of having a yoke.  But consistent with Paul's understanding of our choice of being slaves to sin or righteousness, what is implicit in Jesus' statement is that we similarly have a choice to be bound by two yokes: the yokes that we self impose upon ourselves, or the yoke of holiness.

We impose enormous burdens upon ourselves, consciously and unconsciously.  And the foundation of the yoke that we place on ourselves is grounded in our mistaken understanding of what we are.  We are God's children, and are already beings of infinite worth and value.  Forgetting this central assertion of our faith, or not knowing it in the first place, leads to insecurity and the notion that we are fundamentally unworthy and need to achieve something or do something in order to be worthy.  Our perception in our unworthiness then leads us to fear, anger, and self loathing, which adds more weight to the yoke.  Before we know it, we are burdened with an enormous weight that prevents us from living a life of joy and peace.

Jesus says that the solution is to take upon ourselves the yoke of holiness and obedience to God.  The foundation of this yoke is the understanding that we are already the children of God and are persons of infinite worth.  This then leads us to live our lives consistent with this understanding, and to treat others as people of infinite worth, which spreads peace and joy throughout the world.