“The Problem with Carry-Ons””
Zech. 3:1-5; Matthew 8:1-17
When we travel by air, we often cram as much as possible into a piece of carry-on luggage. While it may save time and the frustration of checking and retrieving baggage at the airport, it also slows us down. Because it’s crammed full, we cannot move about as quickly or as freely as we’d like, and it is often difficult to place it in the overhead bin. And certainly sitting down to eat, or using the restrooms, or window shopping at any of the airport stores is difficult because we have to find a way to hang on to the luggage. THE PROBLEM WITH CARRY-ONS IS THAT THEY RESTRICT OUR JOURNEY’S FREEDOM AND HAMPER ITS PROGRESS. They really are a burden. But it occurs to me that we should be used to extra weight – for we carry around a great deal of extra baggage most every day of our lives – just like people in Jesus’ day. Consider, as recorded in Matthew 8, a day in the life of Jesus.
All day long JESUS MET PEOPLE WITH BURDENS. Jesus had just finished preaching his exquisite, inspiring, challenging sermon on the mount. As he prepared to leave the mountainside, he immediately encountered A LEPER (1-4). A leper was a leper for life – there was no hope for recovery; lepers literally died an inch at a time, and it could take up to nine long, excruciatingly painful years to die. On top of that, the Jews considered lepers outcasts; they were disgraced and set apart, not only because the disease was contagious but also because leprosy was thought to be the result of sin in the leper’s life. Lepers were considered unclean; to touch one was to break law – the Jews believed that one must, in fact, be at least 18 inches away. But still this burdened, leprous man came boldly to Jesus pleading, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
And Jesus healed him. Jesus healed him by touching him. JESUS TOUCHED THE UNTOUCHABLE. He communicated tenderness, acceptance, and love. Note also that Jesus sent him to the local priest to have his healing verified and his social standing restored. He wanted this man to have total restoration. Jesus’ primary concern is always the wholeness, not just the healing, of a person. For Jesus, healing was equated with wholeness. This whole scene would have stunned the Jews! But Jesus was making a bold statement: “NO ONE IS EVER TOO UNCLEAN TO BE TOUCHED BY JESUS!” And His touch always pours forth healing.
Your sin may seem untouchable! Nothing you have ever done or ever will do can bar the touch of Jesus. What are you carrying around because of your sin? Of what are you ashamed? How heavy is your guilt? Do you feel unworthy of forgiveness and love, of the range and touch of Jesus? Do you fear His rejection? “No one is ever too unclean to be touched by Jesus!”
Jesus traveled down the road and encountered A BURDENED CENTURION (5-13). He was a Gentile officer in the Roman Army. So he had four strikes against him. First, to a Jew, Romans were the enemy. Second, a Gentile (a non-Jew) was merely fuel for fires of hell. And as if that was not bad enough, third, this soldier was asking on behalf of his slave, who was considered lower still! Slaves, to the Jew, were no more than pieces of property and to be treated as such. And, fourth, the slave was not even present before Jesus. But still the soldier came to Jesus and stated: “I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word and my servant will be healed.”
Jesus said, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And at that very moment the servant was healed. JESUS REACHED THE UNREACHABLE. This, too, would have shocked the Jews. Jesus was destroying every boundary, breaking down every wall. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you are, or where you’re from; it doesn’t matter if others reject you; it doesn’t matter if you feel you cannot get close to Jesus; it doesn’t matter how far away, or how distant you feel. NO ONE IS BEYOND THE REACH OF JESUS. Ever feel beyond His reach? Ever feel out of touch with Jesus? Ever wonder if you were important enough for Jesus to take time for you? Belief is the key that unlocks the storeroom of Jesus’ healing power. Just ask Jesus to say the word - and a healing word from Jesus will reach you.
Jesus resumed His journey until He came the Peter’s house, where He encountered PETER’S FEVER-RIDDEN MOTHER-IN-LAW (14-15). She was burdened and bed-ridden because of her fever. She never asked for healing; but Jesus had compassion and touched her hand; and the fever left her. Nothing too provocative – until we recognize Jesus touched and healed a woman; He unburdened another excluded person! Once again JESUS INCLUDED THE EXCLUDED! In the Jewish society of that day, women were never, considered important. They were basically powerless. But Jesus didn’t buy into that exclusiveness. Jesus can’t stand sickness and brokenness – no matter whom the victim is; Jesus cannot hold back His heart in the face of burdens. Have you ever been left out, or felt excluded? Do you feel unacceptable because of your sex, your status, your job, your family situation, your social standing, your lack of talent, your age, your disability or your handicap? JESUS ACCEPTS THE UNACCEPTABLE. And He doesn’t need a crowd to pour forth His healing power; He doesn’t even need our asking – sometimes Jesus just shows up, unburdens, heals and restores!
While Jesus spent some time with His friends in Peter’s house, the word spread that He was in town. So when evening approached A NEEDY CROWD (16) gathered: “…many who were demon-possessed were brought to him.” The nameless and faceless flocked to Jesus. Even the demon possessed came to Him! And “he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.” Jesus healed them all! JESUS UNBURDENED THE BURDENED. In the next chapter Matthew painted a similar picture (9:36): “…wherever he went, he healed people of every sort of disease and illness. He felt great pity for the crowds that came, because their problems were so great and they didn't know where to go for help. They were like sheep without a shepherd.” He bore their pain and sorrow in His heart.
Perhaps you’ve felt ignored - that no one knows who you are. You feel all alone, that no one really cares about you, that no one understands you or your situation; and you’re convinced no one would miss you if you weren’t here. Or your problems are so great that you just don’t know where to begin the healing process. The burdens you carry are too numerous to mention, and too heavy to bear. Surely Jesus is too busy with the big boys and the important people to bother with you. Certainly Jesus can’t deal with everyone. But THERE IS HEALING AND WHOLENESS FOR ALL WHO BELIEVE. No one is nameless and faceless to Jesus.
So what are you carrying today? What are your needs and burdens? Do you feel unclean? Has your sin cut you off from Jesus? Are you possessed – by demons or drives or passions of the flesh? Have you been rejected by others and are now convinced that no one loves you? You feel unaccepted, an outsider, distant from Jesus, excluded from His attention and help? You feel inferior because of your perceived status in life – you feel unworthy or unimportant? Maybe you’re too ill to be healed? Perhaps it’s your loved ones who are hurting or rebelling? Maybe you’re overwhelmed by sin, guilt, or shame. Maybe you are simply unable to come to Jesus – perhaps because your burden is too heavy for you to travel? Or is it your broken heart, or your handicap, or your pride that holds you back? Do you want to be healed and restored? Do you believe?
Whatever your load, I invite you to check out JESUS’ PROCESS OF BURIAL. Remember what happened to Christian in the drama? “On the top of the hill, he came to a cross. Just as he got to the cross, his burden came loose, dropped from his shoulders, and went tumbling down the hill. It fell into an open grave and (he) saw it no more. Now Christian’s heart was light. He had found relief from his burden. He said to himself, ‘He has given me rest by His sorrows, and life by His death.” He stood gazing at the cross, wondering how the sight of the cross could so relieve one of guilt and shame…He now felt innocent, clean, happy, and free...He was so thankful and so full of joy that the tears began to flow.” Burdens are lifted at Calvary! Matthew pointed out, in fact, that THE PURPOSE OF JESUS IS TO CARRY AWAY OUR BURDENS (17): Matthew was reflecting on Jesus’ ministry and thought of the prophet’s description of a suffering servant .Quoting from Isaiah 53, “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.” In Matthew’s mind, Isaiah was pointing to Jesus: Jesus came to carry our burdens!
Listen again at our passage from the prophet Zechariah (3:8-9): “’I am going to bring my servant, the Branch (Jesus). See the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,” says the Lord Almighty. “And I will remove the sin of this land in a single day.’” And so He did. Jesus, on that single day, was crucified, He died, and was buried. He descended into hell. JESUS CARRIED AND BURIED OUR BURDENS IN THE DEPTHS OF HELL. They are gone, forever! And still, today, Jesus is the carrier and burier of all that burdens us. More than just His purpose for coming to earth, it is His bent, His very nature. It is His desire. He takes and carries away burdens – He fully restores lepers, outcasts, sinners, Centurions, outsiders, the nameless and faceless. Jesus has no preferences. Race, social status, wealth, talent - none of that matters to Him. Jesus does not discriminate when it comes to compassion and healing. There is no weight too great for Him to bear. Jesus is more than able to take our infirmities and carry our diseases, to bear our sins, burdens, and illnesses and carry them away to the cross. Jesus cannot help Himself – when in the presence of need His heart is stirred and His soul activated.
So COME TO THE CROSS! Be released from your burdens. And then, through His Holy Spirit, Jesus will transmit His nature, His likeness, to you. He will put you in new clothes! It’s just as the prophet Isaiah prophesied (61:10 MSG): “I will sing for joy in GOD, explode in praise from deep in my soul! He dressed me up in a suit of salvation, he outfitted me in a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom who puts on a tuxedo and a bride a jeweled tiara.” Paul picked up the same them when he wrote the Galatians (3:27
NLT): “And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes”, and to the Corinthians put it this way (2 Cor. 5:17 GNT): “Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come.”
Want to be relieved of your burden? Want to put on new clothing? Want to be new or renewed? As the old hymn put it, “Whosoever will, may come!”
Lee Ezell is a speaker and author who has known a great deal of suffering and loss. One time, after humorously telling her story, a lady came up to her and said, “Your life sounds like a soap opera.” That prompted Lee to describe her life this way: “I was raised in Dark Shadows, suffering Northern Exposure. And As the World Turns I would spend the Days of Our Lives seeking to become one of the Bold and the Beautiful, But only became one of The Young and the Restless. In a desperate Search for Tomorrow I headed out for Another World, But instead ended up on The Edge of Night, in General Hospital.” (Does any of this sound familiar?) “Then Jesus Christ, my Guiding Light, Brought me through my Secret Storm. He said, ‘Come share with Me in My Dynasty, Become one of All My Children and I will give you One Life to Live.’”
Are you experiencing the joy and peace of that one true life? Or are you tired of your burdens? WHAT IS KEEPING YOU FROM JESUS? No one had greater obstacles than the leper or the Centurion or Peter’s mother-in-law or the crowd. But Jesus lifted their burdens. Christian came to the cross – and his burdens were lifted. At the cross, “Jesus took up our infirmities and carried our diseases…and by his wounds we are healed.” Your burdens can be lifted at Calvary. So come, turn your eyes upon Jesus, and stand beneath the cross. Then you, too, can go on our way smiling and singing!
(1) John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, retold by James H. Thomas, Moody Press, © 1964 by the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, p. 39
(2) Lee Ezell, Finding God When Life’s Not Fair, Fleming H. Revell, © 2001 by Lee Ezell, p. 19-20
