Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
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Original Manuscript:
There once was a man named Joseph. He was walking in the city. Like many of us, his focus was on other things, and so he fell into a great big pothole and was stuck.
He cried out for help, but only a few answered him. One was a police officer. He said "just dial emergency services on your phone."But the pothole was big, and Joseph didn't have a signal. He cried out "Excuse me officer, but I don't have a signal. Hello, are you still there? Hello?!"
The next person was a pastor who said "I have this tract on prayer that will help. Let me throw it down to you." But the pothole was big and dark, and Joseph couldn't read it. "Would you be willing to stay with me a while and tell me what the tract says?" Joseph cried out. But the pastor was already gone.
A father walked by with his son and said, "See kid? This is what happens when you don't look where you are going." They walked away before Joseph could even respond.
Finally, Joseph's closest friend, Mary, walked by. Joseph cried out, "Mary? Is that you? I'm stuck. Can you help me?" Mary jumped right in with him.
Joseph looked at her dumbfounded "What are you thinking? Now we're both stuck here!" But Mary smiled and said, "I've been stuck here before. There's a tunnel on the other side here that will get us out."
Many of you have probably heard a version of this story before. It's often told in recovery circles and I've heard it on television and other media sources.
This story gets at two things we hear in our reading from Galatians this morning. The first is our need for community to be there to help us.
Paul says to "bear one another's burdens." This is not an approach that comes easy to us in our corner of the globe. We are, in part, prone to want to let people take care of their own problems and not make it our business. We tend to be more individually minded than community minded. We can sometimes be like the very people who passed Joseph by with bad advice, or even minimal help.
We are called, instead, to be like Mary in this story, who jumped in and helped Joseph. She could help bear his burden all the better because she knew what it was like to have that burden. That is not always the case for each and ever one of us, but we know what it is like to need the help of another at times. Paul tells us bearing another's burdens will help us "fulfill the law of Christ." We are called in the Two Great Commandments to "Love our neighbor as ourselves."
However, we do have to be careful when we help others too. We shouldn't forget about the father who passed by Joseph in judgement for his situation. Paul tells us it is foolishness for "those who are nothing to think they are something." We should never think we are better than others because we are not. We don't help one another out of pride in our own situation, but out of compassion for another. As the saying goes, "there but for the grace of God go I."
Paul also tells us "all must carry their own loads." Ultimately, yes, we are only responsible for ourselves, but, as Paul said before, part of that load is helping others and caring for others. Our individualistic streak in the West is correct in that we need to focus on our own growth in Christ Jesus, but part of that growth is in serving others and living in community.
Like Mary, we should jump at the opportunity to help our fellow Siblings in Christ on their journey, but we do so out of love, not judgement. It can be easy for us to say "that's that person's business, not mine," but we all need help at times. It can also be easy for us to be judgmental of others, and dare I say for us to be gossips in other peoples' lives, but we have to realize that we are no better than anyone else.
The call of Jesus Christ is to focus on our own individual growth, but to do so in community. We show compassion to others because we have often been in the same situation. We bear each other's burdens, not just because we, at times, will need help carrying our own burdens, but because it is the right thing to do. If we love God, then we love our neighbor as Scripture tells us time and time again. Love God: help your neighbor out.