MAY 14, 2025
Topic: “THE LOVE OF THE BURDEN BEARER”
Text: 1 Peter 2:21-25
Memory Verse: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 1 Peter 2:24.
Apostle Peter expounded the gravity of the love that Christ Jesus showed in a pictorial form describing it as the love of ‘a Burden Bearer’. Jesus carried in his body many weights that humans cannot carry in themselves. We shall examine some of these weights.
First is the weight of sin. The consequence of the weight of sin is death as written in Romans 6:23. Jesus carried the sins of the whole world when he went to the cross. Isa 53:6 says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Jesus did not only carry our sins, he also transferred to us, ‘the righteous nature of God’. 2 Cor 5:21 says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Second is the weight of curses. Galatians 3:13-14 says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” He redeemed us in order that the “blessings given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.” Jesus carried the heavy burden of curses for us. He was cursed for our sake. He did not only do this but also transferred to us in exchange, the blessings of Abraham.
Third is the weight of Sicknesses. Isaiah 53:4-5, says “Surely, 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.” Jesus carried every known and yet to be known sicknesses and diseases in his body to the cross so that we can be free of every sickness and all diseases. Since he carried all these burdens for us because of his love, we need not carry them again.
PRAYER: Lord, thank you for bearing all my burdens. Help me to live free from all these burdens and never to carry them again, Amen.