The Yoke of Love

By Ken Woodley

Freedom? Liberty?

This heavy weight seems to stretch forever.

As if I’m carrying the dark side of the moon on my shoulders.

Carrying it with my whole being.

The yoke of the emperor and his legions is everywhere. Our land is dotted with the temples he has built to himself, as if he were not only a god but the deity of all deities.

Which is what that caesar believes.

I don’t see how I can go any further. I don’t see how we can go any further.

Freedom? This isn’t freedom.
Not at all.
It has been so hard for so long, with only brief pastures and small still waters.

Years and years, it seems, so another single step feels impossible.
The valley of this dark shadow seems to stretch forever and the slopes that surround us look and feel too steep.

We could shout out a declaration of independence at the top of our lungs but our voices would go nowhere and the emperor’s yoke would only grow heavier.

Each time we try to climb with this heavy yoke we slip and slide and stumble and fall. We are cut and bleeding and still this burden refuses to fall from our shoulders, or tumble away from our heart and soul.

And all we can see around us are people on the same journey.
Carrying their own heavy yokes.

They don’t see how they can go any further, either.
No way at all.
It has been so hard for them, too, for so long.

Years and years, it seems, even if it has been a few days, weeks or months, so another step feels impossible to them.

The valley of the shadow surrounding them seems to stretch forever and the slopes surrounding them look and feel too steep.

Weeds surround them. Their flowers are nowhere to be seen.

All of us have stumbled and fallen and the weeds seem certain to take every one of our blossoms away.

The Kingdom of heaven seems to have stumbled and fallen with us.

But, on our bruised knees we pray.

Unable to gaze skyward any longer, we look down and see our bent and humbled shadows in prayer.

Prayer is all we have left, hopeless words searching for hope.

And that—yes, that—is when we see another shadow.
Right there beside us.

Next to every one of us.

The shadow of someone carrying a yoke across his shoulders.

The shadow of this man and his yoke look just like the silhouette of a cross, like a crucified man somehow journeying right by our side.

Has Jesus been there all along?
Did we mistake our burden for his?
Or his for ours?

The flowers of his presence among us begin to bloom.

Even our weeds blossom into flowers.

Everything the emperor and the world have piled upon us seems to recede into the background, no longer taking center stage.

The world’s emperors gazing into their mirrors instead of looking out through windows at the humanity all around them.

They’ll never stop the Kingdom of Heaven from taking another step forward, and another and another and another.

We all must journey on but the dark side of the moon won’t be on my shoulders or yours. Instead, the light of the moon will shine upon us through the parting clouds.

We’ll still have burdens in this life but they will feel less heavy because we do not carry them alone.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens,” Jesus tells us, “and I will give you rest,”.

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

The healing love wrapped around his words embraces each of us.

Jesus knows all about burdens.
That’s why he can help us carry our own.

Including those burdens we place on our own shoulders.

We too often expect perfection from ourselves, and believe we must be some kind of super human being, bearing every burden and carrying every weight.

Jesus never expects perfection. He knows perfection is impossible.

Doing the best we can, getting back up when we fall, or, especially, helping someone else back up when they stumble.

That is how the Kingdom of Heaven takes the next step.

Liberty? Freedom?
Yes.

Jesus allows us to make our own declaration of independence, declare our own liberty from the burdens that we were never meant to bear.

Light and love are all Jesus asks us to carry.

And light and love are no burden at all.