What Does That Mean? The Law of Christ
An app for random Bible quotes spit out this piece of Scripture the other day:
“Bear one another’s burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.”[1]
Briefly breaking it down:
What is the law of Christ? “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.”[2]
And how does Christ love us? Christ loves us by bearing our burdens. The sorrows of the world are so heavy, heavy as the weight of the Cross upon the heart of God. Three times did Christ fall to his knees, fall to the pavement, fall flat on his face beneath the weight of our burdens. And then, he was nailed to that Cross and died.
Because he loves us, Christ carries our burdens and transforms them into ways to Heaven. No longer need we be weighed down by the burden of our cares, our sorrows and woes, our blood and our tears. We will not be ground into dust beneath the weight of suffering. No, rather, we will be lifted up. Christ bears our burdens with us, in love, and when we bear one another’s burdens, in solidarity with Christ’s love, then our sufferings – those sufferings that we carry as burdens of love – will open the portal of Paradise to us. Our heavy hearts, heavy with the weight of love, will be pierced open to silently reveal to us the sublime, profound glory of God’s endless love. With one true glimpse of the beatific vision, we would deeply know the abiding joy of peace. In loving one another as Christ loves us, in bearing each other’s burdens as Christ bore ours, we will die to self-centeredness as Christ died on the Cross, and we will be raised up to new life as Christ rose.
A foretaste of Paradise awaits us here in the burdens of those around us, near and far. That taste, that glimpse, will be wasted and lost if we don’t bear those burdens with our fellow human beings. If we don’t sympathize with the sorrowful and the confused and offer our hands for them to hold… if we don’t suffer with the hungry and offer our own bread for them to eat… if we don’t forgive the wicked and forbear the annoying… if we don’t administer to Christ when he is suffering in the least of our brothers and sisters with the same love and compassion with which he administered to us – then we will not fulfill the law of Christ. And by not fulfilling the law of Christ, we, ourselves, will not be fulfilled. We will not know the fulfillment of our souls, hearts, minds, and bodies. We will neither experience the wafting scent of Paradise now, nor live in the endless Bliss forever.
We need to be like Christ in what we say and do – in all that we are.
“Bear each other’s burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
© 2015 Christina Chase
[1] Galatians 6:2
[2] John 15:12
Christina Chase View All
Although crippled by disease, I'm fully alive in love. I write about the terrible beauty and sacred wonder of life, while living with physical disability and severe dependency. A revert to the Catholic faith through atheism, I'm not afraid to ask life's big questions. I explore what it means to be fully human through my weekly blog and have written a book: It's Good to Be Here, published by Sophia Institute Press.
Christina Chase 
Sometimes to “forbear the annoying” is very difficult. Sometimes it seems easier to just turn away from.
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I might have used the word forbear in the wrong context. What I meant to say was, its often easier to walk away from an annoyance (person), although probably not the right thing to do.
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Thanks for reflecting with me, Pat. I know what you mean. Although, I think that if you’re about to say something that would be hurtful or even mean to a person who is annoying (I’ve been guilty of that) then it might be a very good idea to walk away instead! What I try to remember is that I have tendencies or habits that could be annoying to some people – it’s that whole “the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you” thing. Please do note that I said “I try to remember” – Christ fell in human weakness and God knows that I fall many, many, many, many times every day. Thankfully God is merciful!
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