“More Than You Can Bear” by The Rev. Kaji Douša

In the Gospel of John, chapter 16, there’s this beautiful passage in which Jesus is talking to the disciples, and he lets them know that everything that he has, that he could possibly share, he’s not going to tell them quite yet, because the truth would be more than they could bear. And as I think about that, I think about everything that God knows, and all that God could potentially give us to understand, and how God holds back until we are ready to receive things. And perhaps you’ve heard the phrase “God will never give you more than you can bear.” And a lot of people hear this and believe that there’s something wrong with them when they can’t bear what their lives are encountering. But what I actually believe about what Jesus was doing here is that he was saying that if you have more than you can bear, it did not come from me. When we have more than we can handle, God is with us, and that is the beautiful thing about this passage, that, Jesus says that for all that is to come, and all these things that just seem like it’s beyond what you have the capacity to handle, I am sending you my Holy Spirit, the paraclete, the great interceder, who will fight for you when it feels like nobody else is fighting. Even when it feels like you can’t fight for yourself. And so, I just encourage all of us to take in that breath, to take in that Holy Spirit, to take in God’s promise and know that God is always advocating for us, no matter what the world tries. Amen.

Pastor Kaji’s full sermon: https://parkavenuechristian.com/what-you-cant-bear-sunday-sermon-by-the-rev-kaji-dousa/