FROM THE PASTOR’S HEART
OP / ED BY DR. ROBERT KENNEDY
As a pastor, I have seen all kinds of scammers over the years. I was pastoring at a large church in the mid-1980s in the South Bronx. One morning a young man, I will call John Green, showed up at the end of our worship service, moaning and groaning.
After a few deacons listened to his story concerning what was happening to his wife, they called me. I, too, listened as he told of how he and his wife were hungry, that his wife needed supplies for feminine care, and that he had throat cancer. He even opened his mouth and showed us how his throat was red. Then he said he was asking for financial help.
Although I doubted his story, I wanted to ensure that as we went into worship, we would not be like the priest and Levite in the parable Jesus told in Luke 10:33-37. As the story goes, these two religious men were on their way to Jerusalem to worship when they encountered a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. Thieves attacked the man, beat him, stripped him of all he had, and left him by the wayside half dead. So, with this parable of Jesus on my mind, I decided, along with the deacons, to give some money.
About four weeks later, the man returned with another sad story, and again, although I had reservations, we gave him a little more money. About a month later, a pastor from a church some distance away called just before our worship service began and asked if I knew a young man named John Green. He said John told him he was on crutches because of a broken leg. He also told the pastor that he knew me; therefore, the pastor was calling me for authentication. When I heard the name of the young man, I freaked out. I screamed because I knew I (and my church) had been swindled.
I have seen the play of the young man’s story again and again. It seems like scammers prey upon pastors and church people. I have been so cautious about those who have come to the churches I have pastored that I hope I have not turned away some who needed genuine help. Scammers can cause the softest hearts to become calcified.
Having said the above, one can understand why the apostle Paul makes two statements in Galatians that might seem contradictory. In Galatians 6:2, he says, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ.” In Galatians 6:5, he says, “Each one should bear his load.”
I will not make too much of the difference between the words “burden” and “load.” In the Greek, they are different. The word for “burden” is baros which means “weight.” The word “load” comes from phortion, which means “cargo,” like that carried on a soldier’s shoulder. Of course, some weights or cargos are so heavy that there is a need for help in either case.
So, while I take with seriousness the apostle’s appeal that we are to “bear one another’s burden,” I am not going to make a big deal of what seems like a contradiction in his instruction that “each one should bear his load.”
The point is that we need to help but also be wise in offering help to one another. We do not need to be so susceptible that we become suckers for scammers. But we need to have generous hearts that are open to helping those around us. Especially those among whom we live and move in our communities – our families, churches, schools, neighborhoods, jobs, and larger communities.
Here are at least eight points about which we are ever to be reminded as we seek to share the burdens and cares of one another.
- We are called to be other-focused instead of self-focused.
- We are called to look for others with a burden/load and help them bear that burden.
- We are not called to wait upon some extensive infrastructure or superstructure to bear the burdens/load of others; we are called to do what we can – one-on-one.
- We cannot shift our responsibilities of caring for one another.
- We cannot blame another for what we fail to do for others.
- When the lives of others are under threat, we cannot afford to behave as if those lives do not matter.
- When a burden or a load gets too heavy for another person, there is a need to stand in place with a willingness to help.
- Whatever strength or encouragement we give others makes a difference in their lives when the burdens or loads get too heavy.
As we bear one another’s burdens and help with their loads, we are fulfilling the simple law of Christ as recorded in the Gospel of John, where Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)
And as we live, let us ponder these questions with seriousness. Will we allow coldness and suspicion to lead us? Or will we allow appreciation and love to guide us so that we can bear the burdens of one another?
