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耶稣邀请我们与祂一同负轭，似乎有点令人大惑不解。轭是用来栓着两头平排的牛的，这样它们便可以一起用力来完成粗重的工作。这里产生了两个问题：（1）这个本来为耶稣而设的轭，怎可能容得下我们呢？（2）这种工作和“安息”、“容易”、和“担子是轻省的”，又有什么关系呢？呼召“劳苦担重担”的人、为他们提供一个要求他们工作的轭，岂可以算是一个邀请呢？

在信息版（The Message）圣经中，尤金·毕德生对这段经文的意译，或许可以帮助我们明白：“你疲倦吗？你筋疲力竭吗？你是否厌倦宗教？你可以到我这里来，和我一起离开这地，你便能重整你的生命了。我会告诉你该如何找到真正的安息，与我同行，与我同工——看看我怎样做，学习恩典中没有压力的步伐。我不会把任何沉重或不相称的担子强加在你身上，只要与我结伴同行，你便可以学会怎样自由和轻省地生活了。”

这个轭我们很容易便能装配好，因为它完全适合耶稣，而祂正在塑造我们更像祂。在这个“恩典中没有压力的步伐”里面，甚至工作和安息也没有清晰的界线呢。

你感到劳苦吗？与耶稣结伴，同负一轭吧，你可以让这位“心里柔和谦卑”的主，教导你怎样去负轭。

Jesus’ invitation to be yoked with him may seem puzzling. A yoke pairs two oxen side by side so that they can pull together to get hard work done. That raises a couple of questions: (1) How can we possibly fit into a yoke designed to fit Jesus? and (2) What does this work have to do with “rest,” being “easy,” and a “burden [that] is light?” What kind of invitation calls people who are “weary and burdened” and offers them a yoke that puts them to work?

Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of this passage in The Message may help: “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

The yoke fits easily on us, because it fits Jesus perfectly, and he’s shaping us to become like him. Inside the “unforced rhythms of grace,” even the line between work and rest is blurred.

Are you weary? Take on the partner-yoke and let the one who is “gentle and humble in heart” be your yoke-teacher.