Take My Yoke Upon You

One of my all time favorite classes at BYU was given by Professor Matthew Grey on the Four Gospels of the New Testament. I remember when I met him he said, "Bethany...that's an appropriate name for someone in a New Testament class."

I learned so much about the culture and customs of the Savior's world, and why His actions and statements were so shocking to those around Him.

I remember praying one Sunday about Matthew 11:29-30 which says "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

That scripture did NOT make me feel like I could do hard things, it made me feel overwhelmed. Knowing that Jesus Christ can do and has done all things, including the saving Atonement, "which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit-" (reference here) the idea of taking His yoke and His burden upon me sounded horrible. It did not sound easy. It made my burdens seem heavier, not lighter.

So I was praying one Sunday, asking about how that scripture was supposed to bring me comfort, when my burdens felt so heavy already, and I didn't want to take on the even heavier load of the Savior's yoke.

I walked into class on Monday and what do you know, my prayer was all set to be answered.

The customs of the Jews during the Savior's day included many "extra" rules that were not revealed as necessary from God. They included the rules about how many steps could be taken on the Sabbath, no work or healing should be performed on the Sabbath, etc. (Considering the fact that the Savior broke all of these rules regularly, it helps give clarity to why they wanted to kill Him so badly.) The Greek word used in translation for this set of extra rules was called the Yoke. So essentially, what the Savior is saying in Matthew 11 is "take my commandments upon you, and not all the extras, for mine are easy."

My awesome professor then said, "How often do we do this in modern day? How often do we burden ourselves and others with 'extra' rules and judgements that really aren't necessary?"
How often do we convince ourselves that Sabbath Day worship just won't be the same if our clothing is not the best of the best? Or we didn't create a handout for our lesson?
Or those neighbors, they let their kids do that??
You mean you don't have an hour of family scripture study a day?

No. The Savior is not like that. He has given us the commandments and rules that we should follow in order to bring joy and peace to our lives. And have you noticed, no where in the scriptures does it say "Do your very best"? Instead, we are asked to strive and to be faithful. That means progression and constant effort and never giving up.

So don't make your life harder with a yoke that we were not given. Do not compare. Theodore Roosevelt said, "Comparison is the thief of joy." Only worry about the things God has asked us to do, and not with all the extra pressures the world places on our backs. Their yoke is heavy, but His is light.

photo cred