Bearing Each Other's Burdens
“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5:1-2
Last month I went to a Christian medical conference which brought physicians together from Europe, the Mideast and Northern Africa. I’ve found this kind of conference to be a great way to meet Christian health professionals from developing countries who have the skills, passion and calling we look for in ministry partners. I also treasure the spiritual encouragement I receive and the new insights I gain while interacting with these vibrant Christian physicians.
One of the speakers, Dr. John Wyatt, from the UK spoke on Christian medical ethics. He warned of the dangerous trend we are seeing in Western Society in which the lives of the elderly and disabled are increasingly devalued. He referred to an increasing use and acceptance of euthanasia in the Netherlands and even in parts of the United States. He made a striking comment: “when someone says, ‘I don’t want to be a burden’, stop them right there and say, ‘Wrong!’” His point was that Christians are called to carry one another’s burdens, and that we should also be willing to share our burdens with others. Carrying each other’s burdens should be integral in the Christian community and to define or label someone as “a burden” debases the dignity of human beings, who are made in the image of God. Assigning a lower value to someone because of a limitation in their physical or mental abilities undercuts the intrinsic value we as Christians recognize in every human being whose life comes from God.
On the final day of the trip to this conference, my wife, Barb, and I received sobering news that her mother had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. During the next three weeks I observed my wife and her family as they cared for their mother through her illness and subsequent death. I witnessed such a wonderful example of bearing the burden of someone you love as they, with the help of the hospice team, provided for her physical needs, treated her with love and dignity, prayed and sang hymns with her and allowed her to remain at home to the end.
She had been a strong woman accustomed to bearing other’s burdens. Widowed with ten children at the age of 48, she managed to keep the family together while leading the management of their dairy and farm operation. She sacrificed to provide for the physical needs and Christian education of her children, and she shared her faith with them through her example and words. She was an ardent supporter of the Luke Society, who read every bit of literature we sent, financially supported and prayed for the ministries and prayed for me personally in my travels. If you haven’t already surmised, she was someone who had a great deal of influence on me in the 34 years we knew each other and she had earned my deep respect and love.In the last few weeks of her life, I was privileged to see her willingly submit to the supportive care of her children. In this deliberate act on her part, I recognized that sharing your burdens is an act that is often difficult and humbling for a strong person to do.
I find it no coincidence that the most striking concept I heard at the conference was quickly and dramatically demonstrated to me in the events of my extended family in the weeks that followed.
As I reflect on this topic of bearing one another’s burdens, I am also able to appreciate the relevant application of this concept to our work in the Luke Society. The Luke Society is called to help carry the burden of the widow, the fatherless, the marginalized and the “sheep without a shepherd.” We deeply value the lives that this world often fails to.
James states it this way: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27). Christians do this, not simply as a humanitarian effort, but as an expression of our Christian witness. We are attempting to “imitate God as dearly loved children”. Our attempts to imitate God are imperfect, but can be seen perfectly in God’s indescribable gift of salvation through Jesus’ death and resurrection. In that act of infinite love God truly bore all our burdens.
Wrede Vogel, MD