Music courtesy of The Falls Church Anglican Choir, Falls Church, Virginia, under the musical direction of Simon Dixon. Audio mastering by Andrew Schooley. From Messiah by George Frideric Handel (1742)

Listen to the full playlist for Handel’s Messiah.

I savored Handel’s cascade of declarations celebrating Jesus’ easy yoke and light burden. The praises rang from a sparkling hall through an impeccably dressed choir accompanied by an orchestra. Then I remembered another outpouring that echoed the same message.

In 2012 I visited Turkey and engaged with more than two dozen refugees who each shared heart-felt proclamations of Jesus’ easy yoke and light burden. However, their praises rang from dilapidated apartments, bland parks, and dirty sidewalks. In mismatched second hand clothes and without musical accompaniment they praised. Each had been wearied by an oppressive regime and burdened by grief and instability. Yet, each had trusted in Christ and was a hopeful person.

The irony was that they had escaped the yoke of a draconian rule only to be harnessed to another master. Yet they found their new Lord’s yoke to be easy and His burden light. Jesus’ analogy of a yoke explains why.

A yoke is a large wooden crossbar placed over an animal’s neck and connected to another animal. When in training, a new ox is yoked to a large, seasoned one who will actually bear most of the weight. Only if the new ox submits to the yoke and learns to walk in step with the older one will its yoke be easy and burden light and even restful. Otherwise, the younger ox will lacerate its neck by resisting; it will be restless.

The truth is that we are all already yoked to other things that we treat as idols. That’s why we’re driven, burdened, and restless.

Jesus alone offers a better way. Join the cascading chorus of the rested and dependent with this prayer: “Lord, I cast my cares on You and assume Your yoke. Teach me to keep pace with You and rest in Your strength.”