"For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Jesus is being sincere, but it often feels like maybe this is some kind of punchline. Easier than what, Jesus? Lighter how, now that I am working for what I cannot see or suffering consequences I did not anticipate? Submitting to the yoke of Christ can be physical agony and mental torment, and in those moments this verse feels like a lie. But this too is a promise, that we are never alone when we struggle, that even the terrible weight that we feel is only a small portion of the burden that Jesus bears with us. This is true of grief, fear, loneliness, fatigue, disappointment, betrayal, and loss.
Christian life is often not easy, but no life is, and in the grand scheme of all the yokes, Jesus' yoke is easy, and of all the burdens, his burden is light. Sometimes it doesn't feel like the truth, but we can only experience our own life, and this is why it is so important to have the perspective of Scripture's objective truth, to get beyond our feelings. We cannot know the life we could have had without Jesus, and it can be easy to fantasize about everything that could be different, but ultimately we cannot escape the fact that life is difficult and painful; our choice is not between hard or easy, but whether to devote the life we have to Jesus in faith that in Him our struggles are not futile, that help will come when we need it, and that our hope is a tangible promise that more than makes up for our sufferings.
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