"The yoke of Jesus is gentle and humble, close to the earth, human and merciful, tender as a mother for a child, a father for a newborn, a grandparent with grandchildren. In this revelation, this relationship, we will find rest, comfort, care, protection and light-heartedness.

"Often in Central American communities people talk about a yoke, since they still use oxen to plow their fields and carry their produce to market and have ox-drawn carts for convenience. When two oxen are place in a yoke, an older one is paired with a younger, less experienced animal. The older disciplines and keeps drawing the younger one back into the path of the plough on the road, They go two by two, balancing one another. One ox yoked to another in this way can carry great loads for long periods of time. Oxen are docile, hard-working, essential to people's life and livelihood. The yoke is for service, for obedience and hard work, necessary hard work. Jesus invites us to take a yoke on our shoulders! But Central Americans know and talk about other yokes: the yoke of invasion and occupation, of attacks from other groups, of fear and poverty enforced by outside bans and sanctions, of isolation and separation and no dignity. They would gladly accept the yoke that was gentle and humble of heart instead of the ones they have always known.

"This yoke — the word is also used in Middle Eastern languages to connote laying arms on another's shoulders and dancing in circles and long lines. This yoke is familiar, comfortable, companionable, easy and full of delight, music, song, and dance. To be so yoked means friendship, even in the face of hardship and suffering and loss. This yoke is preferable to any other. In old translations of the Bible Jesus was 'yoked' to the cross, his burden laid across his shoulders and tied to his back. He carried this yoke to the hill, and it became his cross, his instrument of public execution. He was made to carry and participate in his own humiliation and execution. How can this yoke be easy and the burden light?

"And yet, when I mention this in small groups and communities studying the scriptures, there are knowing looks, gentle smiles of understanding, because Central Americans know too of that yoke, of the shared suffering in the struggle for justice, its horror and its gentleness, and how it draws people together and calls forth from them; even strangers, acts of kindness and care, protection and gentleness. They recall how they treat those who suffer for the people with utmost tenderness, as one would a child or lover. Yes, this yoke is easy and the burden can be light. This small piece of the gospel is the one they remember, put to music, pray aloud in hard times, and repeat as a blessing when we leave the village. This piece is remembered and taken to heart, understood, and prayed over and over again in hope."