Lord Jesus Christ invited people to have a grand exchange offer. All those who are heavily laden with sin, sorrow, worries, sickness, inferiority complex, addiction, fears…to come to Him, and take his yoke which is easy, burden which is light. (Matthew 11:28) Pharisees extracted 613 rules and regulations from the Books of Law of Moses, and followed them rigorously. For a Jew, it was a heavy burden as expressed by Peter in the Jerusalem council. (Acts 15:10)
Distribution: A yoke distributes and divides the burden equally among two oxen. However, Lord Jesus Christ takes the heaviest part of yoke/burden and gives the light part to his disciples. Perhaps, the ratio could be 99.99:0.01. In some cases, the yoke itself is so heavy the animal that carries it could collapse; Lord’s promise is that the yoke is easy, no accidents or adverse effects.
Burden is light: God gives us tasks or responsibilities to accomplish as part of His mission. There could be different but light burdens the Lord provides for each believer.
Burden for Lost: All believers should carry this burden. The Lord’s desire is that no one should perish, all should be saved. (II Peter 3:9) This is a spiritual burden and the purpose is to make Father in Heaven and angels rejoice as often as possible. (Luke 15: 10)
Compassion: Lord demonstrated the spiritual burden several times in His earthly ministry. In the human form, the Lord desired rest and relaxation for his body. However, a crowd came to Him. He saw them and had compassion and said they are like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36) Lord desires compassion in the hearts of His disciples when they see such a massive multitude who are ignorant of the truth.
Burden to pray: Peter, James and John were specially called to pray with the Lord before crucifixion in the Garden of Gethsemane. However, they could not be awake for an hour and pray. (Matthew 26:40)
Generosity: Christian discipleship and discipline is to be generous with all our resources (time, talent, treasures, knowledge, skills, connections, influence…etc.) to serve others.
Have I availed this grand exchange offer?