The Savior has told us from Old
Testament times that he would team with us to make our burdens lighter, to work
out our salvation, and to advocate for us with the Father. In Leviticus
26:12-13 Jehovah tells us:
12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.
13 I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt
We watch sports on TV and cheer for
our teams. We often have a renewed hope that they will do well because they
have acquired a new pitcher, quarterback, center, or goalie. We are willing to
be excited about the new “savior” for our favorite team. As often as not, the
“savior” fizzles and our hopes are dashed.
The wonderful news for us is that
the real Savior will never fizzle. We can trust in Him implicitly. He will
never fail us. He will lead us to our ultimate goal as surely and strongly as
we will let him. In Matthew 11:28-30, he says:
28 ¶ Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest.
29 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.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
The farmers of the Savior’s day,
and our pioneer ancestors, would have understood the Savior’s metaphor
immediately. In a yoke of oxen, the right ox is the lead ox, and the off (left)
ox is often a younger ox that is still learning to respond properly to
commands. The right ox always responds correctly; the off ox follows the lead
of the more experienced ox. The oxen form a team, and as the off ox learns and
becomes stronger and more experienced, together they can pull very large loads.
The yoke distributes the load evenly between the off ox and the lead ox just as
the Savior is willing to share our burdens if we will team with him.
We can team directly with the
Savior instead of vicariously, as with our sports icons. He can be our coach
and our biggest fan if we will let him. He can teach us the way to perfection
and eternal life. Earthly coaches often have considerable trouble leading
recalcitrant players because players don’t listen to counsel or follow
instructions to the letter. They violate curfews and skip training regimens.
They even miss practice sometimes. Sometimes they do something so egregious
that they are kicked off the team.
We are no different. We often
deviate from the Great Plan of the Eternal God (GPEG) (Alma 34:9) and displease
him by our lack of commitment. The Savior is different. He will never kick us
off the team. We can cause him to have to wait for us to bring ourselves to
understanding of his requirements, but he will do so as long as our mortal test
goes on (and into the eternities).
Blessedly, the Savior is ever
forgiving and ever loving. Because he sacrificed for our sins, he can demand
repentance and insist that we forgive others before we can be forgiven and
before he yokes (teams) with us. He says in Doctrine and Covenants 64:9-10:
9 Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive
one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth
condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin.
This may, for some of us, and
perhaps for all of us sometimes, be a most difficult requirement. Chieko N.
Okazaki, in her book, Aloha!, teaches us:
The commandment to forgive is universal. Ultimately
we both must and can forgive all who have trespassed against us, but I do not
suggest that forgiveness is always quick or easy. Forgiveness is a change of
heart, and sometimes a great deal of healing must take place before forgiveness
can occur.
The savior is the healer. He does
not (and never has) required perfection for us to be yoked with him. He
continually says “Come unto me.” He never says “come unto me all ye that are
perfect.” He invites us so that he can heal us and teach us. All he needs from
us initially is a desire to live the gospel. From that point he can make of us
“trees of righteousness.” Isaiah, speaking for the Lord says in Isaiah 61:3:
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give
unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
As you may remember, this is a
favorite theme of mine. The Savior says in Matthew that he will help us find
“rest unto our souls” and in Isaiah, he makes wonderful promises as we choose
to team with him and turn our lives over to him for healing, training, and
experience as the off ox. The yoke of mortality can be hard to bear and can
bring despair at times. Robert L. Millet, in his book, An Eye Single to the
Glory of God: Reflections on the Cost of Discipleship, quotes an anonymous commentator:
"The yoke of the law," one commentator has
explained, "the yoke of human effort, the yoke of works, and the yoke of
sin are all heavy, chafing, galling yokes. They represent large, unbearable
burdens carried in the flesh. They lead to despair, frustration, and anxiety.
Jesus offers a yoke we can carry, and He also gives the strength to carry it.
"The yoke He offers is easy, and the burden He
carries is light, because He is meek and lowly. Unlike the Pharisees and
scribes, He does not desire to oppress us. He does not want to pile burdens on
us we cannot bear, nor is he trying to show how hard righteousness can be. He
is gentle. He is tender. And He gives a light burden to carry. Obedience under
His yoke is a joy. It is when we disobey that the yoke chafes our neck."
Obedience seems, then, to be the
key to the Savior’s willingness to team with us. He will be steadfast and
patient, but obedience and acceptance of the GPEG are minimum requirements for
our eventual salvation. President Joseph Fielding Smith, in his book, Church History and Modern Revelation, confirms this:
The Gospel covenant is the promise of God to grant to
man, through man's obedience and acceptance of the ordinances and principles of
the Gospel, the glory and exaltation of eternal life.
There is another side to this
teaming concept. At times, we might find ourselves on the right side of the
yoke, acting as the lead ox. We may, in our homes, in our church
responsibilities, and even in our work lives, actually be the experienced and
obedient one as we help others to grow and learn to obey. At these times, we
have the same responsibility that the Savior has with us. We must follow his
example and be meek and lowly, tender, gentle, and do our best to make the
burden light, but always following the commands of the Lord in all things.
The trouble is that we are
imperfect beings. We do not yet possess the perfect attributes that the Savior
always displays. In this metaphor the Savior then becomes the teamster, guiding
us as we help to train those with whom we yoke ourselves. We must constantly
seek and accept the guidance of his tugs and pulls on the reins, and through
prayer and the guidance of the Holy Ghost we can even hear his spoken commands.
Missionaries can do this. Bishops
often do this. Good Sunday school teachers can do this. Parents can do this.
Peers can do this. The prophet always does this. The women of the Church do
this all the time, often with their husbands, because women respond better to
the reins, and the Holy Ghost may find it easier to speak with them.
We are all capable of stepping into
the lead position, and at times and in our callings, and under the Savior’s
influence, it behooves us to do so. Do we need to have any fear of success as
we take the lead, since we are yoked with the Lord, and he is acting as our teamster? Can we have a better guide than
he? He is willing and able to lead us plainly and simply back to his presence,
and he invites us all to participate in the yoke. In 2 Nephi 26:33 (Jacob quoting Isaiah 14) we read:
He [God] doeth nothing save it be plain unto the
children of men; and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his
goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and
free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto
God, both Jew and Gentile.
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