Reverend Marco Ste-Marie

Release: Setting Down What Was Never Yours to Carry
Hebrews 12:1–2

Friends, Lent invites us to tell the truth. Not to shame ourselves. Not to beat ourselves up. But to tell the truth in the presence of love.

Unfortunately, Hebrews 12:1–2 has often been use to glorify suffering or to tell abused, oppressed, or exhausted people simply to endure more. “If you just have more faith, all will be fine.”

Hebrews is not praising suffering as such.

Hebrews is addressing a community under pressure.

One keyword here is : Let us”.

Hebrews says, “Let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely… and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus.”

Some things weigh us down even if they are not moral failures.

Some of us are carrying coping habits we learned just to survive.

Some are carrying bitterness from old wounds.

Some are carrying roles we took on years ago and never put down.

Some are carrying people-pleasing, perfectionism, harsh self-talk, or the constant pressure to manage everything for everyone.

And after a while, we do not even notice how heavy it has all become.

That is why this Lenten word matters: release.

Release is not losing your life. It is setting down what keeps you from living it.

There is grace in that. God does not come to us in Lent saying, “Try harder. Be better. Fix yourself. Have more faith”

The passage is often heard as a word to communities carrying shame, exclusion, burnout, and public hostility.

The key question becomes “How does Jesus stand with those who are shamed, exhausted, and tempted to despair?”

Todays scriptures is not to glorify all suffering, but to resist shame-based religion.

The cross consistently pushes against shame-and-blame religion. We need to see the cross as exposing scapegoating, hidden violence, and the human habit of projecting shame onto victims.

The cross is not “divine sadism” but God entering the place of shame and unmasking the systems that produce victims.

God comes to us in love. God meets us with mercy. Then, because we are loved, we can tell the truth. And because we tell the truth, we can begin to release what is weighing us down.

So the question today is this: What am I carrying that I was never meant to carry?

Maybe it is the voice in your head that says you are never enough.

Maybe it is doom-scrolling late into the night until your spirit feels thin and tired.

Maybe it is gossip that has become a habit.

Maybe it is rushing through every moment as if your worth depends on how busy you are.

Maybe it is overcommitting because saying no feels too risky.

These things may not all look dramatic from the outside. But inside, they pull at the heart. They drain joy. They make it harder to breathe. Harder to pray. Harder to love.

Todays scriptures do not tell us to deny the weight. It tells us to lay it aside to release it.

And how do we do that? We look to Jesus.

Jesus’ suffering is presented not simply as a ritual sacrifice but as solidarity with people who endure brutal suffering and shame.

We look to the one who did not cling to image, control, or approval. We look to the one who carried love, not performance. We look to the one who kept moving in truth and compassion, even when others misunderstood him.

Jesus shows us that life with God is not about pretending to be strong. It is about learning what to set down so we can be free.

That is what repentance really is. It is not a guilt trip. It is a change of heart and mind that leads to a change of direction. God meets us with love. We tell the truth. We release what weighs us down. And then we walk in a new direction.

Because God does not call us into Lent to crush us.

The lasting truth here is not “be tough.” It is this: faithful life is communal, Christ-centred, and sustained by hope larger than present shame.

Lent is an invitation to let go of what burdens us, and to step into a story larger than our struggles.

Through letting go, we create space for renewal and for the surprising grace that God offers. Each step is a reminder that freedom is not just possible, but promised when we turn toward hope.

“Let us”

The passage tells tired people that they are not alone, that their pain does not erase their place in God’s story, and that Jesus has already gone through shame into vindication.

Faith may look like triumph or suffering, but neither state by itself is proof of God’s favor or absence.

Release what keeps you from life, refuse shame as your deepest name, receive the witness of those who have gone before.

God calls us into Lent to free us.

Amen.