Yokes joined two oxen. Around the oxs neck, the yoke, if tight, would chafe. Under a heavy load, it pressed its weight on the shoulders. Unlike the scribes and Pharisees, who tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others while they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them,[Matt. 23:4], Jesus tells us that His yoke is easy--it will not chafe--and His burden is light. As Jesus hints in Matt. 23 and as Peter says explicitly in Acts 15:10, the yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear is the Jewish law. Although the law came by Moses, Jesus brought grace and truth.[Jn. 1:17]. At His Transfiguration, where Moses (the law) and Elijah (the prophets) appeared with Jesus, the Father--while repeating what He uttered at Jesus Baptism--added a significant command about His beloved Son: listen to him![Matt. 17:5]; i.e., He is more than Moses and Elijah, more than the law and the prophets. He is so much more that we need four Gospels to sketch who He is and Four symbols for the Jesus represented in those Gospels: an ox, a lion, a man and an eagle. For me, as perhaps for others, it is all too common to think of the Risen Jesus as Lord and King--the lion, the king, having ascended to the eagles aerie, whence He came--and to forget that He is also the Savior serving us, as He did and does, in washing our feet and sharing our burdens--the ox who bears our burdens. As Martin Smith* so forcefully reminded me, the comfortable words--Come unto me et seq.(repeated so often in Anglican liturgy that we risk trivializing them)--are more than an invitation: they are a command. If we do not off load our burdens and seek refreshment and rest from Him, how can we possibly Bear one another’s burdens, and ... [thus] fulfill the law of Christ.[Gal. 6:2]? The exchange of burdens in His Body is one of the chief ways He continues to relieve human suffering. *A Season for the Spirit: Readings for the Days of Lent (2004), Saturday, The Fourth Week of Lent, The Burden-Bearer
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 15:58:59 +0000
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