Galatians 6.1-16; Luke 10.1-11; 16-20
“Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” The ‘law of Christ’ mentioned by Paul in today’s second reading is nothing other than the life that Jesus lays out for his followers the night before his death. “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should love one another.” This command to love is, according to the letter of James, the royal law, the perfect law, the law of liberty—the freedom we have in God to do the right thing. This command isn’t so much the expectation to feel a certain way; rather, in Jesus, love is put into action, takes on flesh. Our response to the life and love of Jesus, then, is for our way of life to embody his way of life. “Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Throughout the New Testament, this command to love as Jesus loved is repeated like variations on a theme. The letter of 1st John asks, “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?” John answers his own question by saying, “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” Seeking the well-being of others and serving their good—the biblical sense of love—is not merely satisfied by what we say but naturally includes what we do. (Though you’d probably agree that if our words and speech were a little more loving, that would be satisfying, too).
Another variation on this theme of love-in-action comes when the letter of James cautions us not to be like people who look at themselves in a mirror then forget what they look like as soon as they walk away. James is saying that we aren’t merely to delight in God’s love given to us in Jesus is a self-satisfied, or even self-absorbed, way. That is how we end up looking like the world around us. James warns, for example, about us favoring the rich at the expense of the poor, about wishing the hungry well but not actually giving them something to eat, about professing belief in God but sitting back complacently and shrugging your shoulders at someone in need. That won’t do. We are meant to reflect the love of God out into the world. This is how we live the royal law, the perfect law, the law of liberty—the freedom we have in Christ to do the right thing. “Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Now all of this is quite simple, clear, and concise. Very little of what Paul says today is groundbreaking. But sometimes we need to be reminded of basic truths because, in a complex and complicated world, we can lose sight of those basics. Yet today, we soon discover that the basic call to burden-bearing love requires more courage, commitment, and humble strength than we might imagine.
Oftentimes we think of the burdens that others bear as the difficulties they experience because of things that happen to them. That’s right, of course. We “weep with those who weep,” the New Testament says. Yet at the beginning of today’s second reading, Paul directs our burden-bearing love not to people who have had bad things happen to them, but to people who have done bad things themselves—the faults and failings of others; the sins they commit: “If anyone is detected in a transgression.” He was caught in a police sting and his picture is on the news; her drug use means she has lost home, family, job; their tax evasion has been exposed, and the family reputation is in shambles. If someone’s wrongdoing has come to light, how do we respond?
Here is where Spirit-led courage, commitment, and humble strength come in. Because if my neighbor sins, how easy is it for me to criticize, to call them out publicly and shame them, or to joke about what they’ve done? Yet none of that will do. “If anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness.” This humble approach comes from the Spirit-filled wisdom and awareness that I stand in need of God’s grace, too. Eugene Peterson makes this clear in his translation of today’s passage from Galatians. “If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore that person; [keep] your critical comments directed at yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day is out…Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.” Peterson’s translation gets to the heart of the matter as he puts into words the Spirit-led purpose of our life.
Then, from this call to bear one another’s burdens, Paul calls us to persist and persevere in a life of faith. And here he says one of the most realistic things he says in any of his letters. “So let us not grow weary in doing what is right.” Now you know that not everything Paul says is easy to understand. Some things he writes about are, at first glance, incomprehensible; in today’s reading there are parts that seem unnecessary (though irrelevant illustrations are part of the skill set of every preacher). But in today’s reading when Paul says, “Let us not grow weary in doing what is right,” we know what he means. We know because we know how easy it can be to give up on trying to do the right thing. “Let us not grow weary in doing what is right.” This is a good verse to remember when things are going well; it is an even better verse to remember when things are going badly. Injustice and disappointment are the sad facts of the fabric of life. Yet no matter how bad things are, or how bad things appear to be—even really, really, bad—do not neglect to do good, and do not tire of doing good even when it appears to do no good. Why? “For we will reap at harvest time,” Paul says. And the harvest is God’s.
In God’s time, not our own, there will be a harvest, a bounty of God’s goodness to defeat every evil power. And because the harvest is God’s, because we have been drawn into a work that is greater than ourselves with the disciples in today’s gospel, we can persist and persevere in a life of faith. The beginning of this harvest is Jesus’ victory over death. Christ is the “first fruits” of that harvest, Paul says in 1st Corinthians 15. There Paul talks about the meaning of Jesus’ resurrection for our lives and offers more encouragement to do persist in doing right. “Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”
Because Jesus is risen from the dead, every deed of love, every quiet kindness, every good work bears the power of God. The good you do matters. Even efforts that feel futile are not wasted. Let us not grow weary in doing what is right. In the hand of the One who defeated death, nothing done in love is ever lost. The harvest is God’s. And the truth of God’s persistent love means that we can persist and persevere as we bear the burdens of others in a spirit of gentleness and, by doing that, fulfill the law of Christ’s love.
“So then,” Paul says as he wraps up today’s reading and comes to the end of his letter to the Galatians, “So then, whenever we have the opportunity, let us work for the good of all.” This is the life each of us is called to, working for the good of all as we live in Christ’s love. And when it seems like too much work and you are about to grow weary, know that you are not called to this life alone. With the disciples in today’s gospel, Jesus himself sends you to proclaim the Kingdom of God in word and deed—the central purpose of your life.
Now you may or may or may not accomplish heroic things in your life of faith. But by putting one foot in front of the other, and not growing weary in doing what is right, you will be a living sign and real presence of the Kingdom of God come near. And in those times when you feel like you have been sent out as a lamb into the midst of wolves, know that the disciples were, too. Yet because Christ is sending you—because Christ who defeated death is sending you—you need not tire of doing good even when it appears to do no good. In living out your God-given purpose and call, Jesus Christ is with you; the Spirit is guiding you with courage, commitment, and humble strength. The harvest is in God’s hand as together we bear one another’s burdens and fulfill the law and love of Christ.
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