The Way I See It

‘Shoulder my yoke and learn from me’ (Matthew 11:29)
‘A man gave a great banquet and invited many’ and one gave as his excuse for not accepting the invitation, “I have bought five yoke of oxen and I go to examine them.” (Luke 14:16,19)
Oxen would normally have been worked in pairs under one wooden yoke so that they would have done everything in harmony sharing the work; where one went the other must go too. Thinking on those lines, accepting Jesus’ invitation to shoulder His yoke means being ‘yoked’ together with Him, sharing the same yoke, and working alongside Him in perfect unison. And it is not onerous to align oneself to a loved one, especially when that loved one is Jesus, the source of love. But it also means that Jesus shares our yoke too, helping us with our troubles and labours.
No wonder He goes on to say, “... you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden light.” (Matthew 11:30)

Wilf Eggleston