Many of you know we’ve been doing a lot of traveling in the last two weeks between graduations in Wisconsin and St. Louis, and a wedding in Chicago. During the flights to and from, I’ve reflected on the usual sorts of questions: How does air flowing over that slim wing create enough lift? Which side of the plane is the gas cap on and how does the pilot get close enough to the pump? How often do you have to rotate the tires on an airplane? Would it be cheaper to fly if I checked myself in my large suitcase?
Actually, the thing about flying I contemplated the most was the profound strength of the landing gear. On some of the rougher landings, it seems we dropped the last ten feet pretty sharply. A 737 might weigh 35 tons empty. With fuel, 150 passengers and luggage, it might weigh another 18 tons upon landing. That means the landing gear has to catch a falling plane weighing around 53 tons. That’s something like 27 tons on each gear. The maximum they are designed to catch upon landing is around 35 tons each! That’s amazing! That’s some heavy lifting!
Paul Anderson was born in Georgia in 1932. He was diagnosed at age six with Bright’s Disease which causes severe kidney problems. Despite the disease, Paul played football, and attended Furman University on scholarship where he excelled in weight training.
At the age of 23, Paul established a number of weight lifting world records, becoming the first man in history to officially press 400 lbs above his head. At age 25 he lifted over 3 tons off the ground using his back (Guinness Book of World Records)! That’s some heavy lifting!
When Jesus had been condemned by Pilate, Matthew says “They…led him away to be crucified.” He doesn’t specify the fact that Jesus was made to carry his own cross out of the city. This was common practice for the condemned. We’re not told whether it was the entire cross or only the crossbeam. Either way it was a heavy burden. The crossbeam alone could weigh up to 100 lbs! What Matthew does tell us is that Simon of Cyrene was compelled to carry Jesus’ cross. After Jesus had been scourged and beaten, he was not strong enough to carry his burden.
Although Jesus had been relieved of carrying the physical cross, he still carried a heavy burden. This burden was more than Simon could have carried. It was far heavier, even, than anything Paul Anderson had ever lifted. God had made Jesus to “be sin.” The Father had placed on the Son the sins of the world. That was some heavy lifting! No human being could ever have borne that heavy load up to Calvary, save only one – the man who was also God.
It was for this purpose that Jesus had taken on flesh and become a human being. He didn’t do this for his own glory. There were no officials standing by lauding and praising his achievement. The burden he bore and bore gladly, the victory he won and won handily, the price he paid and paid fully, were all done in a way that was hidden to the world. Hidden to the world, but revealed in his holy Word.
Paul Anderson was a world renowned weight lifter. His name is still known and famous today, even after his death from kidney disease in 1994. Paul wasn’t strong enough to beat death. But Paul knew who was. Paul and his wife were Christians. He openly talked about his faith, even attributing his gold medal performance in the Melbourne Olympics in 1956 to Christ. Going into the competition he was the walk-away favorite. But he had an inner ear infection and a fever of 104. He was dizzy and weak. He’d lost 30 lbs. After two of the three required lifts he would have to press 413.5 lbs to win. It was a weight he had often lifted, but not in his current condition. He made the attempt twice and failed. On the final attempt, he said, he prayed for strength. “I wasn’t making a bargain,” he insisted, “I needed help.” Wire services described how Paul’s chest expanded to near bursting as he made the final lift, and how he held the weight high in Olympic victory. Later in life Paul would make as many as 500 speeches in a year. In those speeches, he witnessed his faith in Christ, saying, “I couldn’t get through a day without Him.”
Paul’s kidney disease eventually took his life at age 61. He was proud of his Olympic gold medal and of his other honors. But he is quoted as saying, “The greatest thing in the world is my faith.”
I look forward to meeting Paul in heaven. He knew the One who had done the incredible heavy lifting necessary to lift us out of the depths of sin, death and hell. All of the weight of God’s punishment for our sin landed on Jesus. And on the cross he paid the penalty for each one. That’s some heavy lifting, heavy lifting that brings us life.
Psalm 113:7-8 says, “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people.” This, God has done for us in our Savior, Jesus Christ. Our sin laid us in the ash heap and we were unable to lift ourselves up. But God, in his great mercy, lifted us up by the power of his love through Christ Jesus our Lord to eternal life with him.
May God give you peace and joy as you contemplate the great burden that Jesus bore to Calvary, the burden that has been lifted from our shoulders by the death and resurrection of our Lord. And may the Holy Spirit give us words to voice to the thankfulness in our hearts as we speak of his great love and sacrifice to those around us.
God’s peace,
Pastor