The Grief I Do Not Bear

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome.   1 John 5:3

Burdensome – Proverbs 21:8 contains a Hebrew word that appears only once in the Bible.  It is the word for the “guilty” person.  Of course, since there is no other occurrence of this word, we have to speculate about its meaning.  So, we take the meaning from a similar Arabic word that means, “to burden oneself with a crime.”  Proverbs says that when I break the law, I put a weight on my shoulders and I will carry that weight as long as I am guilty.  That’s not how we think about lawbreakers.  We think that the victim is the one who is burdened with the consequences of the crime.  But the Arabic and Hebrew mindset is different.  Yes, the victim receives unjust consequences, but the weight falls on the perpetrator.

Proverbs helps us see the truth behind John’s statement.  God’s commandments do not load up with burdens.  We do not carry the weight.  Why?  Because we are not breaking them.  Someone who keeps the commandment never has to shoulder the guilt.  For that person, the commandment is not a burden at all.  It is light as a feather because I submit to it and obey it. 

The Greek word for “burdensome” is barus.  It has some interesting nuances: oppressive, hard to deal with and grievous.  A moment’s reflection shows us that breaking the law of God straps us with more than the weight of guilt.  Broken law becomes a source of endless oppression, for I am constantly confronted with my sin.  Broken law makes all of life hard to deal with because I am out of alignment.  And broken law is full of grief since I cannot escape the emotional damage it brings.  When I don’t keep the commandments, life is a mess no matter how hard I pretend otherwise.

But consider the alternative.  When I keep God’s commandments, I am freed from all this weight.  I sleep with a clear conscience.  I speak from a pure heart.  I know the joy of obedience.  Therefore, says John, no rule of God is burdensome to me.  All the rules that I keep open the doors of true enjoyment in this world.

Now that we are faced with the two ends of the spectrum, which would you choose?  You’d be a fool to opt for heavy loads.  Of course, you’d choose the life without the burden.  And then John springs the surprise on us.  Keeping the commandments, the very thing that makes my life a simple pleasure, is also what it means to love God.  How wonderful is that!

Now you know why Jesus said, “Come to me all you who are burdened down with heavy loads.”  He didn’t take away the need for obedience.  He took away the weight of not obeying.