Take my yoke upon you,..and you will find rest for your souls. (Matt. 11:29 ESV)
To understand what it means to “take my yoke upon you,” we might use the word “leash.” Jesus is inviting us to leash ourselves to him, and to allow him to set the pace of each day. Let me flesh that out.
Rebecca Solnit is the author of a history of walking called Wanderlust. She writes about a particular kind of person in Paris, France called a “flaneur.” The verb form of that word meant “doddle.” Frustrated French parents might tell a child who was lazy or wouldn’t move, “Don’t doddle!” “Don’t be a flaneur!” It was never a positive thing.
But at one point it became a positive thing. In the 1800’s, it is reported that a small class of gentlemen arose in Paris. They were called “flaneurs.” And they were known for one thing: intentionally strolling casually through the city. Never in a hurry. Never on a schedule. While other Parisians raced around them, these men just walked in a relaxed manner, enjoying all the sights and sounds.
And it is reported that some of these flaneurs illustrated their commitment to restful walking by doing one thing: leashing themselves to a turtle. They would walk through the city so slowly they kept pace with their turtle.
Now, most of us could never do that. If we took a turtle for a walk, we’d take the turtle for a walk. We’d set the pace. We’d drag that slow turtle behind us saying, “Don’t doddle!” There is a humorous sketch of a precocious girl named Eloise. Eloise, in a famous set of children’s books, lived at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. She had a pet turtle. Sometimes she would take it for a walk. Only she would set the pace:
For many of us, that’s life. We may feel like the turtle and life is dragging us behind it, going too fast for us to keep up. For some of us, that is religion as well. We may feel that Eloise is Jesus, and he’s dragging us behind him, telling us to do more and be more and to hurry up.
But in Paris, the flaneur with his turtle did not set the pace. He let the turtle set the pace:
This is what Jesus invites us to do in this text. He is the turtle. He sets the pace. The leash is the yoke. And if we’ll leash ourselves to Jesus and let him set the pace for our daily life, his slowness will become a source of great refreshment. If we’ll walk through every day letting Jesus set the pace, living at the speed of Jesus, we’ll discover rest. Not just physical rest. But rest that reaches all the way down to our souls.
