Galatians 6:1-10
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
8 July 2007
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
“WWJD: What would Jesus do?”
Remember that little phrase that became wildly popular a few years ago? “What would Jesus do?” You used to hear it all the time. Now you still hear it once in a great while. I’ve heard that phrase used in a good way – in the way that it was originally intended. I’ve also heard people use that phrase in a way I don’t believe it was ever intended to be used – as a way of invoking guilt or forcing action.
Here’s an example of what I mean. St. Paul made it very clear in our Second Reading today that we, as the people of God, should “carry each other’s burdens and, in this way, fulfill the law of Christ.” So, St. Paul equates the “law of Christ”– the standard by which we as His people should operate – with carrying each other’s burdens. That’s great! That’s how people will know that we belong to Jesus!
How about, though, if someone doesn’t want anyone to help bear their burdens? That sounds crazy, I know, but there are some tough, independent, private people like that. And how about if someone doesn’t want anyone to help bear their burdens, but, at the very same time, likes to make others feel guilty for not helping to bear their burden, maybe even using that little phrase, “What would Jesus do?”
“What would Jesus do?”
Some people picture Jesus as a mamby-pamby, sissy punching bag, without any spine or backbone, but in our Gospel today [Luke 10:1-20], Jesus sends out 72 workers in the world. Their commission is simple: go into the world and bring the peace of God to homes. What better thing could there be for troubled hearts and troubled lives, for burdened people, than to bring the peace of God that passes all human understanding? It would seem that would be a welcomed thing, but even Jesus, Whose “law” it is to “carry each other’s burdens” knew in advance that His wonderful peace would not be wanted or accepted by some people, that some people would not want their burdens lightened by the peace of God. So, “What would Jesus do?” Well, Jesus made it clear: don’t stay there. Leave that place. Go to where the peace of God is wanted. Shake the very dust of that place off your feet.
As a pastor, I used to think that I was the only one who attracted people who seemed to want help, who seemed to want advice, who seemed to want a burden-bearer, but as soon as I tried to do just that, everything changed. Suddenly, I was no longer helping. Suddenly, my advice was no longer any good. Suddenly, I was meddling instead of bearing burdens. Then, when I finally got frustrated enough to get to the very edge of my Christianity and throw up my hands and say to myself, “Fine, then just live your miserable life,” that little phrase would pop into my mind, “Carry each other’s burdens” and then I’d really be stuck, not knowing what I should do.
Like I said, I used to think that, because I am a pastor, I just attracted those kinds of people and situations, but I’ve heard similar situations from many of you who come to me and ask me what you should do in that kind of situation. And honestly, I have said to many of you many times, “That’s a tough situation. I wish I knew what to do.” Those words have been very authentic. What usually happens in those situations, because we know the “law” of Christ to carry each other’s burdens, is that we get more and more entangled in the situation and the situation actually grows very unhealthy for everyone involved. The burden-bearer is simply doing what they think the Lord Jesus wants them to do, but in so doing, the burden-bearer grows worn out as their offers to help are rebuffed time and time again. And the one who has the burden gets fed up with the burden-bearer meddling where they don’t belong, but at the same time, they don’t want the burden-bearer to stop. What eventually happens is that the burden-bearer grows calloused to and skeptical about the “law” of Christ and no longer derives joy from fulfilling the “law” of Christ and that’s just sad. It’s not what Jesus intended.
Look at our First Reading today [Isaiah 66:10-14]. Isaiah tells us time and time again, using may different pictures to rejoice, to experience joy, to celebrate what God has done for his people. There’s not even a hint that living as a child of God should be a undesirable burden that makes us miserable.
Look again at our Gospel today. When Jesus said to leave that place and shake the dust off your feet, did He go on to say that after you do that you should sit around and lick your wounds and commiserate with others. No, the natural conclusion is that Jesus meant that through the act of leaving and shaking that we should not allow that situation to affect you but to go somewhere where you can do some good, where your gifts and the peace of God that you bring will be accepted, where you can find joy that the demons submit to your authority.
Being a burden-bearer is not easy and Jesus knew that. He knew that because He would become the world’s greatest burden-bearer, carrying each and every one of our sins to Calvary’s Cross. What a terribly heavy load that must have been, much more heavy than simply carrying that heavy cross. But Jesus did it. He bore that burden and He suffered and died even for those who didn’t want Him to do it, for those who would fight Him tooth and nail to their very deaths not to receive His forgiveness, not to allow Him to bear their burden of sin. Those are the ones that I believe Jesus prayed for from the Cross when He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” He loved them despite their outright hatred of Him. And the best thing He could do at that moment on the Cross was to know the true depth of their burden and turn them over to His Heavenly Father.
It’s my belief and my experience that we must do the same thing in bearing the burdens of others, to know our limits, to know that Jesus doesn’t want us to be miserable as we live out His “law,” to know that there are people who do need us to be the hands and heart of Jesus in their lives, but that sometimes we don’t see those people because we’re so busy and so worn out dealing with people who don’t really want our help. In that case it’s best to shake the dust off our feet, to commit that person before the very Throne of God and into His own loving Hands and to look for that person that Jesus wants us to help, that person who will bring joy to us as we help carry his or her burdens.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena