Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29 

We are often weary in our journeys in life. We have been wearied by the challenges of life, by hard decisions, difficulties at home or at work, disagreements, divisions and separations, and also by death. Who will help us in this time of weariness? Jesus says, “Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). 

When we are owned by Jesus, we are yoked with him. We are joined together with him to rest in his promise, and we are also joined with him to trust that the path forward for us is for good. We become people who begin to open our eyes to a world that has been burdened, hurt and beaten down—a world that is weary, much like we are. It is not a world to be shunned or avoided, but to be loved with Jesus’ gentleness and humility of heart. We trust that our crucified and risen Lord is with us in our yoked bodies for this challenge of love and life.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,
 

One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see. John 9:25 

A man who was born blind would gain more sight than those around him. His accusers would shun him; his own parents would cower in fear and not defend him; but his sights were set on Jesus, who would not desert him. This is his confession, “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see” (John 9:25). In spite of the stigma of his blindness, he trusts that Jesus is watching out for him. 

 Even when we have eyes to see, we can be quite blind. We can allow people, like this man born blind, to be shunned and disowned as we cower in fear. We do not see the evils that stir within us, nor the sufferings of many peoples, and are blind to our own injustice and sin. But Jesus takes the poor and the oppressed under his wings, and he gives sight to the blind. When Jesus graciously opens our eyes, we can own up to our blindness and then truly see. 
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Put your finger here. John 20:27 

Owning begins with the mark of the nails in Jesus’ hands and his pierced side. Jesus presents these to Thomas as evidence, the kind of proof that Thomas had demanded on a prior occasion. Thomas feels the scars; but as he does, he also feels the scars of his own doubt and unbelief. He owns this truth about himself, but he also finds that his Lord has owned him, taking his sins into death on the cross and giving, instead, the faith that death has been conquered in his own resurrected body. 

Owning begins by acknowledging the truth. We have had our own doubts and unbelief. But Jesus is not ashamed of us because of our sins, and he has the scars to prove it. He invites us to touch and feel him again as the One who now owns us as Lord. And in that exchange—our own sins for his own life—we are freed from our past and our unbelief. 
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” John 11:32 

The words that Mary says to Jesus are the same that Martha had used previously (John 11:21): “Lord, if you have been here, my brother would not have died.” The difference is that Mary knelt at his feet. She worshipped Jesus. She knew the scars of death, and she would come to know the scars of Jesus’ feet. 

 We are so much more like Martha, impetuously rushing in our panic, maybe even blaming God in this hour of death, never fully grasping the truth of Jesus’ presence. But falling on our knees to the living God means giving these hard truths to God, who knows more about us and our situation than we could possibly understand. Jesus weeps with us in this hour. Death is an evil that angers Jesus because it has such a hold on his people. But it will not be the last word for us. Indeed, we may tweak the refrain of the old spiritual: “When I fall down on my knees with my face to the rising Son, O Lord, have mercy on me.”
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb? Mark 16:3 

The question of the three women making their way to the gravesite of Jesus seems like something that should have been considered before going on the journey—at least with their intent to anoint the body for burial. But the massiveness of the stone symbolizes something more for them and for us: the boundary between life and death is beyond our power to change or overcome. 

We are confronted with many limitations in life. We find ourselves exhausted and unable to gain the strength to face the obstacles in our way. We moan and groan and complain in the face of these limits. Death is the greatest and final limit that we cannot cross. There is no way we can reach beyond the grave. But we trust in the Lord of resurrection. We find that his stone is rolled away. And we trust that in his living power, we can reach out with love—his love—which bursts the limitations of this world and even death itself.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them? Luke 9:54 

Perhaps there is no greater malice in the human heart than revenge. James and John, who are known for their thunderous zealotry, would have those who did not welcome Jesus be consumed by the wrath of God. But Jesus rebukes them. Vengeance and acts of violence are not— and never can be—answers of hope for a fractured and hostile humanity. 

 Violence, of course, still scars our world. It swells in our spirits when anger and rage get a hold of us. We come to reject others and to find all kinds of justifications for this hatred. But Jesus, who has set his face to go to Jerusalem, is not going there to perpetrate violence. He is going there to take the biting jaws of all violence away. Even James and John will come to a new and better spirit—that love is for all others, even for one’s enemies. 
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found. Luke 15:32 

The parable of the prodigal son is all about relationships. The two brothers had a very distant relationship. Yet, as brothers, they really did share a lot in common. They are both prodigals—wasting the father’s gifts— one literally in a faraway land, the other right near the home, working as a “slave” even though he didn’t have to. The younger son came to his senses and returned home to the father’s embrace and a restored relationship. The elder son kept his distance from both his brother and his father. His heart was in a faraway land. 

Sometimes we put a lot of distance between us and the people we blame. Our hearts become cold, careless, hardened. We may even get jealous and envious, like the elder son. But the Father’s heart beats for all of his sons—and daughters. His heart beats with forgiveness and for mending our relationships. Our Father is always closer to us than we realize and ever present to offer joyous mercy.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,