Beckett: The Ministry of Bearing

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).

The Church is a people who bear the burdens of others. Bonhoeffer writes,

[The Christian] must suffer and endure the brother. It is only when he is a burden that another person is really a brother and not merely an object to be manipulated. The burden of men was so heavy for God Himself that He had to endure the Cross… But He bore them as a mother carries her child, as a shepherd enfolds the lost lamb that has been found… In bearing with men God maintained fellowship with them. It is the law of Christ that was fulfilled in the Cross. And Christians must share in this law… what is more important, now that the law of Christ has been fulfilled, they can bear with their brethren.

Bonhoeffer, 100-101

Why bear one another’s burdens? Because Christ bore the burden of all our sins on the cross. Think of every sin that plagues you. Christ bore that sin on the cross. Christ summed up the Law with the Great Shema by saying, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). Jesus kept this Law—He loved God His Father with all His heart, soul, and mind, and He loved His neighbour as Himself—the whole world—when He gave Himself up on the cross so that “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

The law of Christ, therefore, is to give of oneself and carry one’s cross, which at times means bearing the burdens of others just as Christ did on the cross. “Therefore, the Bible can also characterize the whole life of the Christian as bearing the Cross. It is the fellowship of the Cross to experience the burden of the other… If any member refuses to bear that burden, he denies the law of Christ” (Bonhoeffer, 101). How do we do this? “The weak must not judge the strong, the strong must not despise the weak. The weak must guard against pride, the strong against indifference… The one needs as much patience as the other” (Bonhoeffer, 102). Often, the one who is weak judges the strong for being prideful in their strength, thus becoming prideful in their own weakness. “There is shame in being strong and honour in being weak,” they think. They must guard against this.

On the other side of things, the strong often despise the weak and become indifferent toward them. As a campus pastor, someone once said to me, “I can’t do what you do. I’d just tell them to get over it and grow up.” I told them, “It’s not that simple,” for they, in their supposed strength, were looking down on the weakness of youth and they should just be strong like they are. Not only was there hypocrisy in that statement since they received pastoral care from me in their own weakness, and I didn’t say to them, “Get over it and grow up,” but they also exemplified the folly of the strong who despise the weakness of youth and was indifferent toward them. When a brother is weak, we are there to help carry their burden, not shame them because of the load they carry.

This bearing of others especially looks like grace, that is, the forgiveness of sins. For “As Christ bored and received us as sinners, so we in his fellowship may bear and receive sinners into the fellowship of Jesus Christ through the forgiving of sins” (Bonhoeffer, 102). This is what Paul commands just before today’s reading, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness” (Galatians 6:1). We restore a brother through forgiveness.

We Christians like to be stingy with our forgiveness for some reason. “They must earn it,” we think. My brother in Christ, did you do anything to earn the forgiveness of Christ? You did not. The best we have to bring to the table is a filthy rag (Isaiah 64:6). Christ gives you forgiveness of sins because He is merciful, which is not a rational thing that is dispersed on certain conditions. It is given freely—because He merited it, not you (Ephesians 2:8-9). Therefore, forgive your brother just as Christ has forgiven you, just as we pray in the prayer He has taught us.

It is not reason that forgives a brother his sins, but faith, for faith “does not expect that fellow Christians will be perfect, but all Christians live as sinners under whom Christ’s forgiveness and strength is hidden from the world. Therefore they do not discard brothers who sin, but bear their sin in patience and help them to bear their burdens with Christ under grace” (Baseley, 57). As Luther writes, “You take upon yourself the sins, weakness, dishonor and despair of the other person and place upon him your virtue, strength, honor and resources” (Baseley, 58). This is what Christ has done for you. Why neglect it from your brother?

Bibliography

Baseley, Rev. Joel. Christ Beyond Reason: Luther’s Treatment of Faith and Reason in the Festival Portions of the Church Postils. Dearborn, MI: Mark V Publications, 2005.

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life Together. Translated by John W. Doberstein. New York: HarperOne, 1954.