“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6). They say that the mark of a true leader is one who would never ask anything of his followers that he would not do himself. Christ is the ultimate example of this. He is not with us in the trenches out of some token gesture of solidarity or for a nice photo op. Whatever hard thing that He asks us to do, He puts Himself in the same position. “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). Christ asks us to take His yoke upon us, but He also puts Himself under the same yoke. Christ does not stand at the top of some governmental palace issuing decrees and instructions and gazing imperiously as we stagger under the loads He places upon our shoulders. The government shall be upon His shoulder because He has taken upon Himself the same yoke that He asks us to shoulder. He will not place more weight upon us than we can bear, because then neither He nor we would be able to move, since we are both bound to the same yoke. By the same token, if we will allow Him to lead us, then we will both go in the direction that He wants us to go, but if we insist on going our own way, then Christ will still help us to bear the burden that we must bear and follow wherever we go, because, again, we are both bound to the same yoke. He knows the load we must carry and He knows the easiest way to carry that load, but if we feel that we must take another path, filled with potholes and dead ends and broken glass, then He will allow us to pursue such a foolish path of suffering, but He will not abandon us. As soon as we think to ask Him to take the lead, then He will take the government upon His shoulders and guide us towards paths that are less brutal and we will find rest for our souls and for our soles.
