Do you know the story of St. Christopher? Christopher was a big man, around 7 foot tall. He was working as a mercenary when he became interested in Christianity and asked a hermit-monk to teach him. After Christopher was baptized, he asked how he could personally live out his faith. The hermit at first responded that Christopher should fast and pray and become a hermit himself. Christopher didn’t like that idea. The hermit thought for a while and came up with the idea that Christopher could serve Christ by carrying people across a nearby river that had no bridge. Christopher thought this fit his size and strength and agreed.
A few days into his new “job” of carrying people across the river, a small child appeared by the riverside and asked to be taken across. Big strong Christopher thought this would be easy and started hauling the child across the river. In the middle of the river, however, he noticed that the child was heavier than anyone he had ever taken across the river. He told the child this, and the child said to him, “it is because you are carrying not the world on your shoulders, but the One who made the world.” As soon as Christopher realized the child was Jesus, the child disappeared and left Christopher alone.
Now this is just a story. I don’t think Christopher ever took Jesus in child form across a river. There is even some serious doubt that Christopher himself ever existed. But the story is one that we can apply to ourselves pretty easily as Christians. The name “Christopher” is simply a compound or portmanteau of the Greek words “Christ” and “tofer,” to bear. As Christians, we are called to bear Christ. We carry him into our every day lives – our jobs, our classes, our families.
And sometimes in our bearing Christ, we find out how heavy it is to bear the Son of God. Sometimes it is difficult, even for big strong Christophers like ourselves. But that difficulty should be a great moment for us, a moment in which we recognize that the Christ that we have to bear is the One who made the world. We don’t worship any mere man, nor do we bear any mere man. So let us be Christophers together, and when we realize the heaviness of the One we bear, let us give thanks that He is our Savior, the heavy Son of God.