His Yoke Is Easy~

[Rebecca2009]

Meant to type, HIS yoke is easy....
received this today (from Sophia Press) and it blessed me very much!
[img]http://www.sophiainstitute.com/client/email_ads/email_images/harvest_oxen_350px.jpg[/img] [b][font="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size="6"]Few city folks know that like fine men's suits, wooden yokes are tailor-made for each individual ox [/size][/font][/b]

[font="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size="5"]— carefully shaped by carpenters so they don't chafe, bruise, or gall the animal. [/size][/font]

[font="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size="5"]
Well-fitted yokes are easy on the shoulders and make burdens easy to bear, which is why the ancient Greek word [i]chrestos[/i] came to mean both "easy" and "well-fitted."[/size][/font]



[font="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size="5"][img]http://www.sophiainstitute.com/client/email_ads/email_images/AJT90E_450px.jpg[/img][/size][/font]

[font="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size="5"]
Now, some say that when Jesus still worked as a carpenter in Nazareth, He made the best wooden yokes in all of Galilee. [/size][/font]

[font="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size="5"]Farmers came from across the region to have their oxen measured. Once Jesus roughed-out a yoke, the farmers would return with their beast, and Jesus would cut and hone and file each new yoke until it was[i] chrestos,[/i] perfectly-fitted to the particular animal, easy on its shoulders.[/size][/font]

[font="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size="5"]
Legend has it that over the door of Jesus's carpenter shop the sign said "My yokes are easy" . . . to which He added, elsewhere and some years later, "and my burden is light."[/size][/font]

[font="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size="5"]
In those days a Rabbi's teachings were also known as his "yoke." So when Jesus said that His yoke was easy, people knew He meant not only that compared to the countless rules promulgated by so many Rabbis, the teachings of Jesus were [i]easy,[/i] but also that any individual's particular sufferings were[i] perfectly-tailored[/i] to his individual needs, abilities, and strengths. [/size][/font]





[img]http://www.sophiainstitute.com/client/email_ads/email_images/stfrandesales.jpg[/img]

[font="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size="5"]Which is the origin of this consoling prayer by St. Francis de Sales:[/size][/font]



[font="Times New Roman, Times, serif"][size="4"][color="#000000"]
[b]YOUR CROSS [/b][/color][/size][/font]

[font="Times New Roman, Times, serif"][size="4"][color="#000000"]The everlasting God has, in His wisdom, foreseen from eternity the cross that He now presents to you as a gift from His inmost heart.[/color][/size][/font]

[font="Times New Roman, Times, serif"][size="4"][color="#000000"]This cross He now sends you He has considered with His all-knowing eyes, understood with His loving mind, tested with His wise justice, warmed with His loving arms, and weighed with His own hands, to see that it be not one inch too large and not one ounce too heavy for you.[/color][/size][/font]

[font="Times New Roman, Times, serif"][size="4"][color="#000000"]He has blessed it with His holy name, anointed it with His grace, perfumed it with His consolation, taken one last glance at you and your courage, and then sent it to you from Heaven, a special greeting from God to you, an alms of the all-merciful love of God. [/color][/size][/font]

[font="Times New Roman, Times, serif"][size="4"][color="#000000"] Amen [/color][/size][/font]







[center][font="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size="5"]But even as Jesus assured the people that His yoke was easy and His burden light, He had clearly in mind the yoke which His Father had crafted for Him: [/size][/font][/center]
[center] [/center]
[center][img]http://www.sophiainstitute.com/client/email_ads/email_images/DSC_0404_white.jpg[/img][/center]
[center][font="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size="5"]the grim cross on which He Himself would soon hang, bearing the sins of the world.[/size][/font][/center]


[center] [/center]
[center][font="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size="6"]*
[/size][/font][font="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size="5"]Compared to Jesus's sufferings, the yokes you and I have to bear are easy, our burdens light.[/size][/font][/center]

Edited May 21, 2010 by Rebecca2009

[Rebecca2009]

More pictures of Jesus as Carpenter: :-)

[IMG]http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff278/Amylisa_photos/Yeshuaseyes.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff278/Amylisa_photos/blogjesustable.jpg[/IMG]

my favorite~
[IMG]http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff278/Amylisa_photos/maryjesushugts8.jpg[/IMG]

[Bennn]

Wow, that is pretty well found. Thanks for sharing!

[Rebecca2009]

This part of the prayer really gets my heart....

He has blessed it with His holy name, anointed it with His grace, perfumed it with His consolation, taken one last glance at you and your courage, and then sent it to you from Heaven, a special greeting from God to you, an alms of the all-merciful love of God.

[Rebecca2009]

*bump*
I needed to be reminded of this today.....sigh....I need to be reminded of it pretty much constantly.

God help us not to complain about our crosses.

[Winchester]

Low yokes aren't really too difficult, either.

[Ice_nine]

That's a beautiful prayer. Whew. I need to write that down.

I take joy in this blessed seffering.

[Rebecca2009]

I don't seem to be able to really take joy in suffering as of yet.....I [i]might [/i]be getting there very slowly in one aspect of the cross He's given me.
[i]Might. [/i]

[Amor vincit omnia]

Thank you for this post...I really needed to read this today..specially

[quote]This cross He now sends you He has considered with His all-knowing eyes, understood with His loving mind, tested with His wise justice, warmed with His loving arms, and weighed with His own hands, to see that it be not one inch too large and not one ounce too heavy for you.
[/quote]

[ardillacid]

[quote name='Rebecca2009' date='22 May 2010 - 02:34 PM' timestamp='1274553278' post='2115450']
More pictures of Jesus as Carpenter: :-)

[IMG]http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff278/Amylisa_photos/Yeshuaseyes.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff278/Amylisa_photos/blogjesustable.jpg[/IMG]

my favorite~
[IMG]http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff278/Amylisa_photos/maryjesushugts8.jpg[/IMG]
[/quote]
I didn't realize they had camera's back in His day

[Jesus_lol]

[quote name='notardillacid' date='27 June 2010 - 10:04 PM' timestamp='1277701441' post='2135234']
I didn't realize they had camera's back in His day
[/quote]

His father was fairly well connected.

[Rebecca2009]

[quote name='Amor vincit omnia' date='27 June 2010 - 07:27 PM' timestamp='1277684821' post='2135132']
Thank you for this post...I really needed to read this today..specially


[/quote]



Me too. I think that part is really beautiful, it gets right to your heart doesn't it?

[Rebecca2009]

[quote name='notardillacid' date='28 June 2010 - 12:04 AM' timestamp='1277701441' post='2135234']
I didn't realize they had camera's back in His day
[/quote]


[quote name='Jesus_lol' date='28 June 2010 - 01:28 AM' timestamp='1277706503' post='2135244']
His father was fairly well connected.
[/quote]

Wise guys...... LOL

I just love those pictures....any excuse to post them don't cha know....

Edited June 28, 2010 by Rebecca2009

[Ice_nine]

The scenes between Christ and His mother in that movie particularly struck a chord with me, portraying His humanity and all. Good stuff.

[Rebecca2009]

Me too.
The scene of Mary running to her little Yeshua when He fell down...interspersed with her going to Him on His way of the Cross...that just absolutely broke me when I saw it. Still does.