The year 1896 saw the beginning of a rush of people to a very remote area of Alaska. It would come to be known as the Klondike Gold Rush. In only a few years, 100,000 people tried to get to the gold fields of Dawson in the Yukon Territory of Canada, with dreams of wealth and bliss. Stories about the strike were enhanced until it was said that one could simply pick gold nuggets from bushes! Unfortunately, the truth was much harsher. Of the 100,000 people that attempted the journey, only 30,000 made it to the gold fields. Of those, only a few hundred realized their dreams and struck it rich. In just three short years, the bulk of the gold fields played out and Klondike gold fever was over.
Most of the personal stories of those who came to the Yukon are stories of struggle and hardship. One of the direct routes to Dawson lay through Skagway and the lesser-known town of Dyea. While the latter name may be unfamiliar, one of its lasting images is more famous. Gold seekers disembarked their ships at Dyea and began the 500-mile overland trek on foot to Dawson. Deep snow blanketed the ground. Most were not prepared for the dangerous winter conditions of the Yukon. The Canadian Mounted Police decided that anyone heading to Dawson from Dyea would have to carry with them 2,000 pounds or a year’s worth of supplies. At a point 16 miles outside of Dyea, the gold seekers were confronted with a steep climb up a wall of snow and ice.
Up this wall of snow, each man had to carry his 2,000 pounds of supplies, making trip after trip up to the pass, bowed under their burdens. Some turned back at this point. Many did not, taking as much as a month to get their supplies to the top. Those that made it now faced the rest of a difficult overland trail, taking as long as a year to finally reach their destination. When they did, many found that there were no available claims. Some found other work, many simply turned around and headed for home.
The great burdens borne by these men and their superhuman struggle to get to the gold fields put me in mind of another struggle, one that affects each of us. Some of our sin we’re aware of: the times that we speak out in anger, or when we act selfishly, ignoring the needs of those around us in order to satisfy our own wants and desires of the moment; times when we’re impatient or act in an unloving manner; when we embellish the truth or gossip about our neighbor, or desire what our neighbor has. And much of our sin we’re not even aware of. But all of it is a breach of God’s righteous Law. All of it brings guilt and death. And that guilt and death are like a great weight on our backs, bowing us down to the ground. Some of the men hauling their ton of supplies, took the measure of the climb up Chilkoot pass and simply turned around. They gladly dumped their burdens and headed for Dyea. We sinners, however, are not able to rid ourselves of sin’s burden. Those gold-seekers who went on were able, given time, to get that 2,000 lbs of supplies up that icy climb. But there is no climb, no heavy lifting, no work we can perform, no way to make amends for our sin and get the guilt and death off our backs. It would take a super-human act to pay the debt owed to God by each one of us. And it did. It did take a superhuman act. One man, Jesus Christ, took our load, took that load of guilt and death from each of us and from the entire human race. Jesus was able to do that because he was human, like us, flesh and blood – and, unlike us, he was also the divine Son of God. How else could he have done it?
2 Cor. 5:21 says,
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
And Isaiah 53:12 says,
“He bore the sins of many”
Each of those seeking riches in the Yukon gold fields would have given dearly to have some super-human person take all 2,000 lbs of their supplies on their back and march it effortlessly up that mountain of ice. What Christ did for us was infinitely more difficult, and infinitely more valuable. Being a man born under God’s Law, Jesus became guilty of our sin. And in his suffering and death, our punishment and death were owned by him.
“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. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
Isaiah 53:5-6
The gold-seekers out of Skagway and Dyea gave all they had to reach Dawson. In the end, for most of them, it had no value at all – it was worthless effort. Christ, in giving all, offers to us the treasures of heaven, opens the way to eternal joy, and freedom from the massive burdens of guilt and death. In Christ, we are offered real and lasting peace, and a restored relationship with God our heavenly Father.
Surprisingly, most of those who struck it rich in the gold fields of the Yukon died penniless. Their wealth was unable to bring them the peace and happiness that they had longed for. Jesus tells us not to put our hope in earthly treasure that fades and passes away:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matt. 6:19
Two hymns are brought to mind as I ponder the desire for gold that drove these intrepid gold-seekers to risk all in their pursuit of riches (fleeting) while the riches of heaven (eternal) are offered to us freely.
[Away], all fear and sadness!
For the Lord of gladness,
Jesus, enters in.
Those who love the Father,
Though the storms may gather,
Still have peace within.
Yea, whate’er I here must bear,
Thou art still my Purest pleasure,
Jesus, priceless treasure!
(LSB 734:v 6)
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
No merit of my own I claim
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
(LSB #575:v1)
As you struggle through this life with its burdens, remember that there is One who has borne for you the greatest burden: the burden of our guilt and its wages: death. And this One, the Lord Jesus, invites you to lay those burdens on him in prayer, because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:7). He says,
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matt. 11:28-30
God’s peace be yours as you cast your cares on him.
In his name,
Pastor