The Meaning of the Yoke

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The Yoke of Oxen

Before farmers had tractors and other modern machinery, they would use animals and specifically oxen to work their fields. A double yoke is a wooden crossbeam that is bound to the necks of a pair of oxen, connecting the two so they can work as one powerful unit. To plow their fields, farmers would attach a plow to the center of the yoke. They followed behind their oxen, steering them in straight lines while the oxen dragged the plow through the soil, loosening and turning the hardened top soil. This was done in preparation for seeds to be sown. Plowing made planting easier, while also burying weeds and bringing fresh nutrients to the surface. Young oxen must be trained to work in a yoke. A young ox doesn’t know how to wear the yoke or pull the plow. It tries to get out of the yoke by jerking and straining. It wanders off to graze. Or it charges forward to rush the end of a job, choking itself. To train it, the farmer yokes a young ox with a more mature, well- trained ox. When the older ox turns its head, the younger ox must turn its head as well. When the older ox stops, the younger ox must stop also. The lead ox shows the younger how to wear the yoke loosely and lightly by keeping in step with it. If the younger ox speeds up, drags behind, or fights the yoke, it gets bruised and worn out, and the work became much more difficult and exhausting. The young ox soon learns that working together with the older ox makes things much easier. The experienced ox does the harder workload and bears the majority of the load. It not only has the job of leading the younger ox, but also restraining it from wandering or bucking. The young ox’s job is simply to follow its leader, plowing the fields step by step and straight ahead. Since the older one leads, the younger ox does not have to wonder what to do. Eventually, the young ox becomes experienced enough and can be yoked together with another beginner ox.

Yoked to Jesus

A yoke was not created for rest but for work. Yet Jesus 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.” (Matthew 11:29-30). There is always work to be done while we are on this earth. God called Adam to work, even before the fall. “But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (John 5:17). The question is not if we will work but how we will work. Will we work independently of God, believing we can do the work all on our own? The Jews were yoked to the Law of Moses — they were burdened and heavy laden with trying to fulfill the Law in their own strength. “Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out” (Deuteronomy 27:26). When Jesus calls us to take His yoke upon us, independence is made impossible. We must learn to follow our Leader, yielding to His every move and working together as one with Him for the work set before us. If we try to speed up, drag behind, or fight our yoke, the work becomes toilsome and the yoke bruises us. But when we submit and follow Him, our yoke becomes easy, and our work light. He does the hard work of leading and restraining us; we simply obey and follow, while our paths are steered straight by our Father. The yoke itself resembles a wooden cross. Being yoked to Jesus is being yoked to the cross; the cross of self-denial, self-sacrifice, self-death. Just as the young ox, we must deny our stubborn, rebellious ways of wanting to do our own will, and allow ourselves to take upon us the yoke of Jesus. We set aside our own wishes and desires for our lives and instead follow our leader to complete the work that is set before us by the Father. Carrying the cross together with Jesus results in seeds sown in the world around us, and a life of peaceful, restful cooperation with Him.