Burdens

 And he said, "Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.
Luke 11:46 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/luk.11.46.ESV

God's law isn't burdensome. Jesus summarised it as loving God and loving others. The teachers of the law however made it out to be burdensome, adding to it as though it could be improved.

For example, the religious people forbade healing on the Sabbath, because they counted it as work on a rest day. Jesus was happy to heal on a Sabbath however because He knew it was better to do good than to refuse to do so even on that day. If we claim to love God, but hate Jesus, we betray ourselves as liars.

God's law might be good, but we are not, and we cannot in our own strength keep it. If justification before God was according to the law, we'd be hopeless. Thankfully, by the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, we can be saved.

Jesus condemned the religious people for telling others what to do without actually helping them to do it. They preached but didn't practice. We need to have the integrity to practice what we preach.

'God, forbid that we should be religious people who just burden others with unattainable expectations. Please help us to be gracious, merciful and Christlike, in His name we pray, amen'

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