Sermon for 5th Pentecost
God Bears Our Burdens
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
Sometimes Christians say terrible things. They may mean well, but what they say often hurts much more than it helps.
You have probably heard them all:
A loved one dies, especially a child, and some Christians say, “God needed another angel.” Now, I realize that statement is an attempt to be comforting, but let me assure you, it is not. Think of that statement for a minute – God needed another angel, so God took my child away from me!
No, never. That is not an image of any God I would want to follow.
Or, how about this one I am sure you have also heard, “God never gives us more than we can handle.” Really? Tell that to someone dying of an incurable and very painful disease. Tell that to someone who has lost a child. Lots of things happen to people well beyond what any of us can or should have to handle.
Again, what sort of God would cause pain for any of God’s children? Not a God I would worship.
I mentioned another of these terrible statements last Sunday, “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” Which basically means I think you are a terrible person, but I still love you. Sure you do. And, since this statement is often thrown at folks who have a different lifestyle than the person saying it, who are you to judge their lifestyle?
We long ago also dumped, “God helps those who help themselves,” at least I hope we did. That is about the worst theology I have ever heard.
However, my all-time least favorite, and one I sadly still hear said today, is “God has a plan” or “Everything happens for a reason.” These two statements are often said, again perhaps with kind intension, they are said to explain things that seem unexplainable. Something terrible has happened so it MUST be part of God’s plan! Because it certainly would not have happened if God had not wanted it to happen!
I call this blaming God for bad thing that happen.
And, it is an understandable thought – this must have happened for a reason, so it must be part of God’s bigger plan. Right?
No, wrong. I wish I could tell you that everything happens for a reason, but that is just not true. Pandemics? Cancer? Mass shootings? Let me assure you, these are NOT part of God’s plan, at least any God I would want to follow. Just think that one through a minute – God would WANT terrible things to happen to God’s people. No.
Terrible things do happen, things that are not part of God’s plan. And, when they happen, God weeps.
I thought of these awful sayings as I read today’s Gospel lesson from St. Matthew, when Jesus says, “Come unto me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
Jesus says, come to me. Jesus says I will help you bear your burdens. Jesus says you will find rest in me.
Now, notice what Jesus does not say.
Jesus does not say, “Come unto me and I will take away your burdens.” Jesus does not say, “With me, all your troubles will disappear.” Jesus does not say, “I will make your enemies disappear.”
No, Jesus says, “I will help you cope with your problems. I will equip you for life’s challenges. I will enable you to make peace with your enemies.”
Now, this may not be what we want. We may prefer a God who HAS an exact plan for each of us. A God who rewards us here on earth for what we do right and punishes us for what we do wrong. That kind of a God, that kind of a God would be a God we could understand. We do bad things and bad things happen to us. Or the converse, we do good things, and good things happen to us.
However, that is not the God we have. That is not how God works.
God does not necessarily give us what we want. God gives us what we need. God gives us, not what we may want, God gives us what we need.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German Lutheran pastor imprisoned and then killed by the Nazis, Bonhoeffer once said, “God’s intension is to bear us, to sustain us. God’s intention is not to teach us or to improve us.”
And then, God shows us in ways that may surprise us, in ways in which we may not even expect God to show up:
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- God shows up in the need of a neighbor.
- God shows up in the person who doesn’t look like us.
- God shows up in the person who thinks and believes or acts differently than we do.
- And, God even shows up in the person who does not do what we think they should do!
And, what is our response to be, what is our call from God in all of these circumstances? Our call is always the same: to care for others, to meet others where they are, to accept others as we are able.
Matthew has been telling us this for these last number of Sundays: God in Jesus is waiting for us, encouraging us, forgiving us, bearing us. And that makes the burden lighter, the “yoke” that Jesus speaks of in today’s lesson, not just easy but even joyful.
On this holiday weekend, when the rise in COVID-19 deaths has us staying even closer to home, on this weekend, please know this:
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- Jesus Christ loves each of us unconditionally and Jesus’ love can and will lift every burden from our lives, if we let it lift those burdens.
- Jesus’ love come to us despite any human frailty and sinfulness we may have. Jesus does not love us because of what we do. Jesus does not love us because of what we have done. Jesus does not love us because of what we will do or what Jesus hopes we will do. Jesus does not love us because of anything about us – our sex, age, wealth, race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation. None of these. Jesus loves us always and forever just because we are his children, those he loves unconditionally.
- Jesus is still calling us to reach out to others with this love, to reach out to others in all that we do in our lives – how we live, how we interact with others, how we spend our money, and even how we vote. Jesus is calling us to let love for others guide all of our lives.
And, as we do this, or try to do this, Jesus makes us a guarantee, a promise. Jesus promises us that he will be with us, taking our burdens from us as best he can and, when Jesus cannot lift those burdens, helping to make our burdens easier to bear.
This is the God we have. A God who does not wish trouble for us or for anyone, but a God who promises to be with us and this world in all of our and this world’s troubles.
God’s love for us all. Guaranteed in good times and in bad times. Forever.
Amen.
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sermon for:
July 5, 2020
