“Cast all your cares on Him”

At the time the New Testament letters and gospels were written, Greco-Roman society was fraught with economic uncertainty, patron-client pressures, and political instability.  

Stoic philosophers advocated apathy (detachment), while popular religion offered resignation and acceptance of fate.  

The gospel, however, charted a unique path: freedom from crippling worries,  but not by indifference but by confident trust in a personal, loving God, whose Son prays for each one of His disciples.

In the first lesson we find the disciples’ hearts torn apart.  Jesus is leaving them, right then and there.  They were happy about Jesus.  But, on the other hand, well, what about us?  “Where are you going to start this new kingdom of yours?  In fact, it is easy to realize that they were anxious about their immediate future.  “What’s next?”

But Jesus offered them a startling answer – He had no idea about it either.  In fact, He tells them that it is alright not to know everything.  Indeed, in John 16 He already told them that there was a limit to what they could bear.

However, there is something that you can do, He told them – keep yourselves busy teaching, preaching, praying, not only in Jerusalem but even to the end of the world.  And what they did?  They went back home, locked themselves up but remained together, breaking bread and praying. 

Like many of us facing conflicting priorities, they were split by what they considered they had to do next.  They were told to wait, and on the other hand, Jesus told them “Go ye into the world!”

But even looking back to those early days, somehow, through their reservations and worries, God still took care of them.

Since the early days of the Old Testament there is a clear understanding that God would take care of his people.  Through the journeys and challenges of their journey into their homeland, they had seen with their own eyes that – In the words Elijah, “God never takes a break or a day off.” 

Such understanding is underscored in the history of the people of Israel.  For instance, in today’s Psalm, the psalmist recalls how God was the “Father of orphans and defender of widows.  He would also give a home to the neglected and would bring forth prisoners into freedom.”  In other words, God would take care for of those who had been sidelined, ignored, and left for dead.

Now it is crucial to understand that God doesn’t have a catering service or a real state business.  So, guess who are being called to be God’s hands and voice?

In the second lesson, St Peter tells his readers that they should cast all their burdens upon Jesus, because He cared for them.

The New Testament dictionary tells us that in the original language the word used for “casting” underlines a decisive, intentional act of shifting a burden from one place to another — figuratively or literally — so that the object no longer rests on the original place.  

The New Testament makes clear that “burden” refers to a literal transfer of weight and a metaphorical release of anxiety into the care of God.

And then, today’s Gospel brings all this together.  For in the words of the Evangelist, Jesus is expressly praying for His disciples.  In fact, Jesus is very precise – He was praying for his little band of friends.

But then He incorporated all of us along time and distance into his prayers by saying that He was not only praying for his small group, but even for all of us who received His message mercy, grace, and love.

In the New Testament, the word used for care or worries underscores the mental preoccupations that front time to time pulls the heart in opposite directions, and one doesn’t know what to do.

Peter’s advice is clear.  Take the burden off your heart and mind and place it on Jesus’ hands.  And now, if you truly let go, then Jesus will do his thing.  But here is the key – If we choose to take back what we placed into God’s hands, we may end up being on our own.

So, the message of these readings is simple and strong: when the heart is troubled, we are not abandoned.  The disciples learned to wait together in prayer, the psalmist remembered that God has always cared for the helpless, Peter urged believers to cast their burdens upon Christ, and the Gospel assures us that Jesus Himself prays for His people.

Even when the road ahead is unclear and trials remain real, we are invited to place our lives into the hands of the One who holds us in mercy, grace, and steadfast love.

And so, my friends, my brothers and sisters – whatever burden you may be carrying today, large or small, new or of old dating, do not carry it alone.  Bring it to the Lord in prayer, place it gently into His hands, and trust that He who watches over His people neither slumbers nor sleeps.

Fr. Gustavo