This is one of the most loved of all Gospel passages.
A yoke is a curved piece of timber that links two draft animals, one to the other. The Jewish people used the yoke image for the Mosaic Law. Linked to the Law, one traveled right paths.
Jesus takes that image and applies it to himself. ”Come to me…Take my yoke upon you…
Then he says, “My yoke is easy, and my burden light.” And he means it.
We tend to have the general impression that, while it is a fine thing to be a disciple of the Lord, it is a long, burdensome road we have to walk.
But the Lord says something quite different: “You will find rest for yourselves…my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
It is my yoke that is heavy, not the Lord’s. We all have our own burdens. It may be my job, family struggles, my terrible self-image, the mess I’m in, the weight of past sins…Jesus knows all about me, and he says, “ Come to me…learn from me…and I will give you rest.”
And he will.
’High Flight’
”Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings…”
John Gillespie Magee was born in 1922 in Shanghai. His father was a U. S. citizen and his mother was British. They were serving as missionaries in China.
In 1939, John won a scholarship to Yale. However, after completing his freshman year there, he wanted to do his part to resist the Nazi threat. In 1940, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, was trained as a pilot, and in 1941 was sent for combat duty in England.
During a flight one day in late summer, he scribbled “High Flight” on the back of an envelope, and later sent a copy to his parents.
On December 11, 1941, his Spitfire collided with another plane and the 19-year-old pilot crashed to his death.
“And while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
the high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.”