Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things
1 Corinthians 13:7
“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:4–5
In must have felt like an unbearable task when Joseph of Arimathea took the body of Jesus, laid it in his own tomb, and rolled a great stone in front of it (Matthew 27:59-60). In another unbearable task, on Sunday, women returned to the tomb, bearing spices to care for Jesus’ body (Luke 24:1). Though hopes seemed dashed, the faithful bore their grief and did what little they could. Instead of a body, they found angels who declared, “He is not here, but has risen” (Luke 24:6). The angels bore the good news of life. Christ is risen! He is living! See the place where he was laid. They saw the empty tomb and later, the living, resurrected, glorified Jesus.
In Jesus’ resurrected life, we see God’s plan. Surely he bore our sin, our griefs, our infirmities, our brokenness, our doubts, our fears, our selfishness, our darkness. He bore every bit of our baggage to the cross. He died with it and for it. We are redeemed.
Love bears all things. Love Incarnate—God in flesh—has borne it all for us. He has exchanged our guilt for his righteousness. Salvation is complete.
Jesus, Love Incarnate, bore many things on the cross. But at the heart of it all is that he bore us. Because he willingly chose to bear our sin, we have been united with him in his death, and “we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:5).
United with Christ, he goes where we go and we go where he goes. He is always with us! He bears us through each day of our lives. He bears us in the joys and in the challenges. He bears us up with His grace and his mercy.
And because we are united with Jesus, we are united to his life. So we know that he will bear us home to be with him forever.
Christ is risen! He bears all things. We have life in him.
Blessed Easter!
Steve Mueller
Dean of Christ College