Shoulders

We have a tendency to mistreat our backs.  We bend over to pick things up when we should squat down and let our legs do the work.  We try and hold heavy packages with one arm while fumbling with keys to open a door.  Students put too much weight in their school bags.  We sleep on mattresses that don’t give the right amount of support.  We exercise or play sports without stretching first.  And then we take aspirin or go to the chiropractor so that we can keep on misusing our backs without feeling pain. 

The back is very important.  It allows us to walk upright.  It allows us to carry things.  It allows us to pick up what has fallen and get to things that would otherwise be out of reach.  The back communicates something about our feelings; sadness can make our shoulders droop, while confidence makes us stand up straight.  The back also figures in our everyday vocabulary.  A strong person is able to ‘shoulder a burden.’ A dedicated employee puts her shoulders to her work.  A man who won’t stand up for himself is ridiculed as  ‘spineless.’ 

Spinelessness makes us think of Governor Pilate.  He was an officer of the Roman Empire.  He was known for his brutality—on one occasion, he sent armed men into the temple to kill insurgents while gathered for prayer.  But Pilate’s heavy-handed ways incurred a political cost.  He stirred up so much resentment among the Jews that his province teetered on the brink of outright rebellion.  Pilate’s superiors in Rome started to question his skills as an administrator; they made it known that if he couldn’t keep the peace, he would be replaced with someone who could.

Passover was a major religious festival; Jerusalem was overflowing with visitors.  Crowd control was already a problem.  Then, early on Friday morning, a bunch of community leaders asked Pilate for a public execution.  They had a man who they accused of sedition—trying to get people to revolt against the government.  Pilate interviewed the captive, but quickly decided that Jesus was no political threat.  As the Empire’s official representative, Pilate was obligated to enforce the rule of law—Jesus ought to go free.  But the Jews threatened to stir up a riot unless Jesus was executed—and with the city full of visitors, that threat had to be taken seriously.  If major violence broke out, the governor’s career might come to an abrupt end.  Ultimately, Pilate caved in—he let the Jews have their execution, assigning his men to put Jesus to death.  Because Pilate acted spinelessly, the innocent Son of God was crucified.

It’s easy for us to criticize Pilate, but remember what Jesus said: let he who is without sin cast the first stone (John 8:7).  When it comes to doing the right thing, we are often spineless as well.  When your friends plan to do something wrong, do you try and change their minds or do you just keep your mouth shut?  When faced with temptation, do you pray for help to resist or do you just give in?  When doing the right thing will take considerable time and effort, how often do you opt for the easy shortcut?  When your back is to the wall, do you stand up straight or hunch your shoulders in defeat?

I said earlier that we punish our backs through frequent mistreatment.  But the sad truth is that we have injured Jesus’ back far more than our own.  Looking forward to Good Friday, Isaiah said he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed (53:4-5).  Because of our evil thoughts, Jesus’ back was whipped into bloodiness.  Because of our hurtful words, Jesus shouldered the weight of the cross as He walked through the streets of Jerusalem.  Because of our careless actions, Jesus was suspended on that cross, His back aching under the weight of our sin.  Our thoughts, words and deeds injured Jesus’ back, causing Him more pain than we could ever imagine.

Why did Jesus offer up His back to such mistreatment?  It’s because He loves us so very deeply.  Jesus illustrates His love in the Parable of the Lost Sheep. Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine where it is safe and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?  And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home (Luke 15:4).  Sin weighs us down; in Psalm 38 David says, My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.  But Jesus comes to our rescue each and every day; David also wrote Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens (Psalm 68:19). 

With the Covenant of Moses, God illustrated how He carries us on His shoulders.  Listen to God’s design for the vestments worn by His high priest. Take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel in the order of their birth—six names on one stone and the remaining six on the other. Engrave the names of the sons of Israel on the two stones the way a gem cutter engraves a seal. Then mount the stones in gold filigree settings and fasten them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel. Aaron is to bear the names on his shoulders as a memorial before the LORD (Exodus 28:9-12).  Whenever Aaron put on these vestments to offer sacrifices, he carried on his shoulders the names of the twelve tribes—God’s chosen people.  When Jesus came to be our great and final high priest, He carried all our names on His shoulders as He sacrificed His life to forgive our sins. This is the nature of true love—it is willing to shoulder the burdens of others.

God expects us to carry burdens too.  We are to love each other the way that Jesus loves us. Paul writes, Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2).  How do you carry another person’s burdens?  You do it by getting involved in their life.  When they are troubled, you make time to listen.  When they are wrestling with an important decision, you gently steer them towards a God-pleasing choice.  When they are struggling to put food on the table, you invite them over for dinner.  When they feel like worthless dirt, you tell them about Jesus’ forgiving love.  You share a burden when you care enough to get involved.  That fulfills the Law of Christ, who tells us love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39).

But we don’t shoulder the burden of others just because we have to.  We don’t carry their burdens to earn brownie points with Jesus.  We carry each other’s burdens because we love Christ.  We are grateful for His love, and see it as a privilege to serve Him in this way. 

It is a privilege to serve God by carrying a burden for Him.  When the Israelites walked from Mt. Sinai to the Promised Land, the Tent of Meeting and all it’s furnishings had to be packed up and carried.  Only a select few were allowed to bear these holy things, and they did not use carts or animals; the Levites carried the ark of God with the poles on their shoulders, as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the LORD (1 Chronicles 15:15). 

Jesus expects us to shoulder burdens as a part of being Christian.  He said, If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me (Luke 9:23).  Being a Christian requires spine.  When the devil offers us an easy way out, we are to square our shoulders and say ‘no’.  When the world confuses evil with good, we are to stand up straight as an example of righteousness.  When our mind or body crave things that God forbids, we are to show backbone by resisting temptation.  These are the crosses that all Christians bear.

Sometimes it just seems too hard, not worth the struggle.  John writes, This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome (1 John 5:3).  God’s commands are not a heavy burden because our Lord Jesus personally helps us in doing what we should. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30).  We are not out in the field, pulling the farmer’s plow all by ourselves.  Jesus is yoked at our side, pulling with us.  So long as we go in the same direction as the Savior, He makes our burden light by using His mighty power to make up for our weaknesses. 

Everyone bears a yoke of some kind on their shoulders.  If you are not hitched to Christ, then sin has hold of you and the devil drives you mercilessly.  He whips your back with the lash of guilt, making you work hard to achieve his ends.  Only Jesus can free the sinner from such hellish abuse.  Isaiah rejoiced in the freedom that Jesus would bring: you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor (9:4). 

We have good reason to be grateful.  Jesus has freed us from the burden of evil, He gives our lives direction, and He helps us to carry out His will.  When we are tight with God, we rest secure—the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders (Deuteronomy 33:12).  The Lord will not give us more than we can handle; Paul says God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it (1 Corinthians 10:13).  When we collapse under the pressure of temptation, it’s because we do not seek or accept the help that God offers us.  True strength comes from God alone, as Paul found out the hard way: there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me…For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).  We all need Christ to help us with our burdens; we only realize how strong He is when we acknowledge how weak we are.

Esther is an example of a believer with spine.  When the king of Persia made Esther one of his wives, he did not know that she was a Jew.  But sometime later, Esther was faced with a dilemma.  One of the Persian nobles expected all commoners to bow in his presence.  However, one man refused—being a Jew, he would bow to no one but God.   The noble was deeply insulted; he persuaded the king to have all Jews in the Empire put to death.

The problem facing Esther was this: if she went to the king uninvited, she risked immediate execution—but if she did nothing, all her people would die.  Strengthened by God, Esther dared to enter the throne room unannounced and revealed herself as a Jew; not wanting to execute her, the king changed his mind and the Jews were spared.  God gave Esther the backbone she needed to do the right thing, despite great risk to her personal safety.

Jesus offered His back to terrible abuse as He shouldered your sins.  I hope that you are grateful—grateful enough to square your shoulders and work for Him.  Don’t worry about being overworked—the Savior is at your side, sharing the load and lending you strength.  With His support, you can stand tall with a spine that cannot be broken.