There is a simple allegory about three men who set out on a journey. Each carried two sacks around his neck -- one in front and one in back -- kind of like a yoke.
The first man was asked what was in his bags. "In this one on my back," he said, "I carry all the kind deeds of my friends. In that way, they are out of sight and out of mind, and I don't have to do anything about them. They're soon forgotten. This sack in front carries all the unkind things people do to me. I pause in my journey every day to take them out and air them, lest I forget them. It slows me down, but nobody gets away with anything."
The second man was asked what was in his sacks. "In this one on my back, I keep all my bad deeds. I keep them behind me, out of my view. This sack in front carries my good deeds. I constantly keep them before me. I pause in my journey every day to take them out and air them, lest I forget them. It slows me down, but I take great pleasure in them."
The third man was asked what was in the sacks he carried on his shoulders. "I carry my friends' kind deeds in this front sack," he said. "It looks full, but it is not heavy. Far from slowing me down, it is like the sails of a ship. It helps me move ahead. The sack on my back has a hole in the bottom. That's where I put all the evil I hear from others. It just falls out and is lost, so I have no burden to impede me."
It is easy to see which man had it right. The bags the third man carried were indeed filled with the deeds of his brethern but the weight did not slow him down. Quite the contrary, it enabled him to move ahead because he was able to unburden his "yoke" of the evil in his bags. He may well have been heard to sing: "They ain't heavy...They're my brothers."
According to an old legend, in the years before beginning His public ministry, Jesus was renowned for His skill in making yokes. So, the story goes, a yoke was hung over the door of Jesus' carpentry shop as a symbol of His expertise -- a trademark.
A yoke, made of wood and shaped to fit comfortably, made a big difference to the endurance of the oxen and their ability to do their work. Choosing the right timber and shaping it would have taken a considerable amount of time and effort without which the yoke would not fit well, thusly making the work of a beast of burden much more difficult.
Faith, it seems to me, can be somewhat yokelike. It takes time and effort if it is to grow and be a fit in our lives. As Christians we have to build up daily habits which strengthen our minds and wills. When we think about growing and shaping our faith we need to be aware of the danger of faith being shaped to fit us, rather than faith shaping us. In both cases the faith we carry will fit snugly, but in the former it will be a smaller, thinner and subsequently weaker form of faith than the latter.
The Jesus of the Bible promised a light burden, but it is still a burden which needs to be borne. We can speculate about the nature of the burden we are asked to bear because Jesus did not spell it out for us. It might be faith, it might be witnessing, it might simply be the fact that we are known as a Christian and we care for the well-being of others. Whatever the burden, we have to make the choice to bear it.
How is your yoke working for you, my friend? Hopefully you have made it a good fit and that it is helping you move forward in life with the load that you choose to carry!
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