“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30). A yoke is most often used by a team of oxen. The most common place where we can find depictions of oxen in the Church is the twelve oxen that support the baptismal font in each temple. If we consider that the oxen are yoked together then the burden which they bear would be the baptismal font, and more broadly, the saving ordinance of baptism for both the living and the dead. Christ's mission is to bring all of God’s children unto Him, so that they might enter through the narrow gate into the kingdom of heaven. But He needs our help to bring everyone through that gate. If we take upon us His yoke, then we are joining that team of oxen that is shouldering the burden of baptism and salvation for all of our brothers and sisters. When Christ promises us that we will find rest for our souls, that is souls plural. He is not referring merely to each of our individual souls, but to the souls of all those that we love and care about. So many among the living and the dead are lost and confused and staggering under a heavy burden of knowing that all is not as it should be, that they are not all that they should be. We can help them find rest by entering into a lifelong covenant to learn and become more like Jesus Christ. It is far easier for us to deal with the problems that we face when we set aside some of our time to that up our Savior’s yoke and labor in proclaiming the gospel, redeeming the dead, and perfecting the saints through the covenant of baptism. I hope whenever we think of the oxen supporting the baptismal font, we remember the yoke we have taken upon us to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to bring as many of our brothers and sisters on both sides of the veil to a knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ and His divine mission, that all may stand as His witnesses at all times and in all places, even unto death and into the eternities beyond.
