Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
This is the third Sunday in Lent, and today we’re going to look at the Cross as Burden. It’s one of our most iconic images – Jesus, wearing that crown of thorns, and struggling along the street with the weight of the wood of the cross on shoulders already bloody from a whipping. It’s another image we’d rather not dwell on, and yet, one that is a necessary part of our path to Easter morning. We keep the idea with us, still. Often when people are struggling with something hard – something without an easy answer – they’ll say,”I guess this is just my cross to bear.”
I looked up the various gospel descriptions of Jesus carrying the cross, and found something fairly interesting. The three synoptic gospels - Matthew, Mark and Luke – all describe how the Roman soldiers snatched a man off the street - we even know his name: Simon of Cyrene – and made him carry the cross for Jesus. None of these three ever say Jesus carried his cross himself. Only John’s gospel says: ... they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull. No mention of Simon or any help.
This is one of those little factoids that is interesting but not terribly important. We may visualize Jesus carry the cross, but what we are generally referring to is the burden of caring for all of us – the lost, the abandoned, the hurting. We are the burden Jesus carried, and we – and Jesus’ care for all of us – we are what drove him to the cross.
We all carry burdens, too – worries and fears and pains that we sometimes think we carry all alone. Grief, fear of loss, loneliness, feeling shut-out and unappreciated. Physical ailments and mental/emotional trials we never talk about. Not fitting in: in our neighborhoods, our families, even in our own skin. Some days we truck right along – relatively unburdened – and other days it’s a struggle to put one foot in front of the other. It seems to be easier to bear when we recognize it isn’t just us. When we acknowledge that every one has days of struggle. Not that we’re happy that others struggle, but simply knowing that other people are somehow coping, makes it easier for us to keep going.
The people who wrote the Bible weren’t afraid to share their feelings. When they were suffering, they let it all hang out. Here’s one example from Psalm 38:
Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath......
Because of your wrath there is no health in my body;
there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin.
My guilt has overwhelmed me
like a burden too heavy to bear.....
I am bowed down and brought very low;
all day long I go about mourning.
My back is filled with searing pain;
there is no health in my body.
I am feeble and utterly crushed;
I groan in anguish of heart......
Lord, I wait for you;
you will answer, Lord my God.
For I said, “Do not let them gloat
or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip.”
For I am about to fall,
and my pain is ever with me......
Lord, do not forsake me;
do not be far from me, my God.
Come quickly to help me,
my Lord and my Savior.
What we learn from sharing other’s stories is the knowledge that we are not alone – people down through the ages have struggled as we struggle – carried their crosses. David wept in his despair, but God was with him and saw him through it all. And God is with us and will, indeed, see us through.
Jesus carried his cross and we carry ours. Ours may be small compared to his but ours seem very large to us, at times. I can remember once when I was going through hell – it felt that way at the time, anyway – and one too many writers and preachers had told me that it should make me feel better that Jesus was beside me all the way suffering with me. I can remember screaming at God that I didn’t want anybody suffering along with me. What good was that supposed to do? I wanted somebody to FIX it!! Make it all right, not just stand there and suffer with me!
But – as I figured out when I stopped ranting and calmed down a bit – as I’ve had to do many times over the years – help comes from God in different ways, and most often that help comes in the form of taking my focus off myself – removing myself from the center of that great circle which is the entire universe – standing back and taking a broader view– and seeing that life comes with struggle. I don’t know why – it just is that way. We truly DO all have our crosses to bear. It’s not punishment – it’s just what is. It’s part of life. And we do have a God who knows what we are feeling, because he felt it too. And that God IS with us – always and forever. And in the end, love wins. Love always wins.
And that, I believe, is the message of the Cross as Burden. Yes, Jesus carried his cross – but not forever. Eventually that suffering – the whole bloody episode of the crucifixion – came to an end. Jesus went through hell and then he came out in glory. And because it ended that way Jesus is here to help us when it is our time to carry our burdens.
“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
...learn from me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. We learn from Jesus and we learn from each other. We learn that no burden is for a lifetime and for every burden there is help with the carrying. Not only is Jesus with us but we have each other – every person in this room, I believe, is here to help every other person carry their burden. We come here to help, and we are helped. We come here to love, and we are loved. And ultimately, in the end, no matter how heavy the cross, love wins.
Love always wins. Amen.
I looked up the various gospel descriptions of Jesus carrying the cross, and found something fairly interesting. The three synoptic gospels - Matthew, Mark and Luke – all describe how the Roman soldiers snatched a man off the street - we even know his name: Simon of Cyrene – and made him carry the cross for Jesus. None of these three ever say Jesus carried his cross himself. Only John’s gospel says: ... they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull. No mention of Simon or any help.
This is one of those little factoids that is interesting but not terribly important. We may visualize Jesus carry the cross, but what we are generally referring to is the burden of caring for all of us – the lost, the abandoned, the hurting. We are the burden Jesus carried, and we – and Jesus’ care for all of us – we are what drove him to the cross.
We all carry burdens, too – worries and fears and pains that we sometimes think we carry all alone. Grief, fear of loss, loneliness, feeling shut-out and unappreciated. Physical ailments and mental/emotional trials we never talk about. Not fitting in: in our neighborhoods, our families, even in our own skin. Some days we truck right along – relatively unburdened – and other days it’s a struggle to put one foot in front of the other. It seems to be easier to bear when we recognize it isn’t just us. When we acknowledge that every one has days of struggle. Not that we’re happy that others struggle, but simply knowing that other people are somehow coping, makes it easier for us to keep going.
The people who wrote the Bible weren’t afraid to share their feelings. When they were suffering, they let it all hang out. Here’s one example from Psalm 38:
Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath......
Because of your wrath there is no health in my body;
there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin.
My guilt has overwhelmed me
like a burden too heavy to bear.....
I am bowed down and brought very low;
all day long I go about mourning.
My back is filled with searing pain;
there is no health in my body.
I am feeble and utterly crushed;
I groan in anguish of heart......
Lord, I wait for you;
you will answer, Lord my God.
For I said, “Do not let them gloat
or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip.”
For I am about to fall,
and my pain is ever with me......
Lord, do not forsake me;
do not be far from me, my God.
Come quickly to help me,
my Lord and my Savior.
What we learn from sharing other’s stories is the knowledge that we are not alone – people down through the ages have struggled as we struggle – carried their crosses. David wept in his despair, but God was with him and saw him through it all. And God is with us and will, indeed, see us through.
Jesus carried his cross and we carry ours. Ours may be small compared to his but ours seem very large to us, at times. I can remember once when I was going through hell – it felt that way at the time, anyway – and one too many writers and preachers had told me that it should make me feel better that Jesus was beside me all the way suffering with me. I can remember screaming at God that I didn’t want anybody suffering along with me. What good was that supposed to do? I wanted somebody to FIX it!! Make it all right, not just stand there and suffer with me!
But – as I figured out when I stopped ranting and calmed down a bit – as I’ve had to do many times over the years – help comes from God in different ways, and most often that help comes in the form of taking my focus off myself – removing myself from the center of that great circle which is the entire universe – standing back and taking a broader view– and seeing that life comes with struggle. I don’t know why – it just is that way. We truly DO all have our crosses to bear. It’s not punishment – it’s just what is. It’s part of life. And we do have a God who knows what we are feeling, because he felt it too. And that God IS with us – always and forever. And in the end, love wins. Love always wins.
And that, I believe, is the message of the Cross as Burden. Yes, Jesus carried his cross – but not forever. Eventually that suffering – the whole bloody episode of the crucifixion – came to an end. Jesus went through hell and then he came out in glory. And because it ended that way Jesus is here to help us when it is our time to carry our burdens.
“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
...learn from me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. We learn from Jesus and we learn from each other. We learn that no burden is for a lifetime and for every burden there is help with the carrying. Not only is Jesus with us but we have each other – every person in this room, I believe, is here to help every other person carry their burden. We come here to help, and we are helped. We come here to love, and we are loved. And ultimately, in the end, no matter how heavy the cross, love wins.
Love always wins. Amen.
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