Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent Dec. 13

Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent

December 13, 2006

“Jesus said to the crowds, ‘My yoke is easy.’”

Matthew 11:30

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In his dictionary, Mr. Webster says a “yoke” is a wooden frame or bar with loops or bows at either end, fitted around a pair of oxen, etc. for harnessing them together. It is a pair of animals harnessed together. A yoke is something that unites, binds and or connects. It is also any mark or symbol of subjection, bondage or servitude.



We yoke! We yoke or bind or harness ourselves to people, things, etc. Are our yokes wise? Are they leading to the results we want?



Don’t make a joke of the yoke you yoke

Like takin a toke from the smoke you smoke

U breathin it in

And servin its wind

Is it love or sin

That u got you in?



Don’t make a joke of the yoke you yoke



I was just moved to write the above seven lines in rhyme/rap form. The point of it is that yoking is like breathing in smoke from tokin and this smoke can be love or sin that we breathe in and end up serving with our lives. Are we choosing to bind ourselves to God and his goodness or are we harnessing ourselves to something, which always leaves us empty handed?



In 2 Cor. 6:14 we read, “Do not be yoked with unbelievers.” It often baffles me when I see the friends or spouses people choose. It is not uncommon for a couple to come to me wanting to get married where one person has faith and the other is an unbeliever. These two people are going to bind, harness, yoke themselves to each other with having, in the big picture, very little in common. If one person is seeking to love and glorify God and the other could care less about doing that, there is going to be trouble in river city. How will you be inextricably bound to serving each other in the sacrament of marriage if both spouses do not have God in their lives? And this type of questioning should be asked of all the friendships we choose to yoke ourselves to.



You yoke! Are you smart about who or what you have yoked yourself to?



Love is spelled T-I-M-E,

Fr. John