Carry One Another’s Burdens

One man was there who had been invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going, another steps down before me.” (John 5:5-7)

This man has been ill for 38 years and he’s so close to the hope of healing (“the pool”), but he’s so dragged down by his illness (“invalid”) that he could not move himself further into the source of healing (“the pool”), and in his moments of most need, there is no one to share his burden and help him move a few steps towards the pool.

So many people are suffering alone like this man, and while they truly want to be healed by Jesus, they just don’t know how to or they feel so stuck in their pain and struggle (could be caused by biological, psychological, social and spiritual sufferings) that they feel they can’t move one step further toward the Lord. The burden or pain just feels so overwhelming and they feel so weak, so “invalid”, being stuck in the mud of suffering. Sometimes all that they need is someone to be willing to come close to carry their burdens with them, helping them put one foot in front of another towards the source of living water – Jesus Christ their Savior and Healer.

Suffering alone is not how God has created us to live. He has created us and redeemed us through his Son Christ Jesus, so that we may live and love one another in God’s community in our union with Christ and with one another, and this includes carrying one another’s burdens and helping one another in need. God calls us to do this as he speaks to us in Gal. 6:2, “Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the laws of Christ.”

Ps. 133:1 paints such beautiful a picture for us: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!” And Eph. 4:4 reminds us that “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;” We as Christians, as followers of Christ, are joined to Christ and to one another through the one same Spirit – the Holy Spirit because of God’s love and grace. We are of One body – the body of Christ, the Church.

The picture of Ps. 133:1 is the picture of love of the friends of the paralyzed man in Luke 5：17-20 – they carried their paralyzed friend on a bed all the way to the place where Jesus was, and they tried to bring him to Jesus so that he could be healed by Him. And when they couldn’t find a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let their friend down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. And Jesus, seeing their faith, healed the man.

This man’s friends has shown us how to love one another as God has commanded us to do. God is merciful and gracious. In John 5, after hearing the invalid man’s story, Jesus had compassion on him and healed him at once. And think of what Jesus has done for all of us who believe in him – he carried all of our burdens even when we hated him; he lived a perfectly obedient life on our behalf when we couldn’t; he was beaten, mocked, despised, and betrayed because of our iniquities…he suffered the worst pain for us and he died on the cross to heal our worst disease – our sin, so that we can be One again with God the Father in heaven, without requiring us to bring him anything in return (and we can’t!). His love and salvation is a free gift to us when we believe in him, and he continues to be our High Priest in heaven, bearing our burdens and interceding for us. In his greatest love and grace, he leaves us this commandment: “Love one another, even as I have loved you.” (John 15:12)

May we be like the friends of the paralyzed man who did not let their friend suffer alone but loved and helped him to move towards Christ. May we be like Jesus as we remember his love for us and as we imitate him in loving one another. May the Lord give us a humble heart that is not only willing to come close to the suffering souls, but is also willing to go a step further always, not minding the “inconvenience” it might cause us, but to do all that we could to walk with our brothers and sisters in their spiritual journey and help to guide them to our Savior Christ, who is compassionate and loving, faithful to see our suffering and heal our wounds, giving us His peace!

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