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,

Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Luke 10:40 

Families are meant to care for one another and support one another. But family arguments can start at an early age between siblings and may even surface at the most inopportune of times—like when a loved one dies, and all that can be considered is who gets what and who deserves the most. We want special favors, like Martha who wants Jesus to tell Mary to help her in the kitchen. But there is more brewing here in Martha’s spirit than meets the eye. 

Jesus calls them “distractions,” taking our eyes off the prize—his death and resurrection, our freedom and our life. Truth be known, with Jesus in our midst, all the work is never left for us to do by ourselves. Indeed, there is work that he does that we could never do, and there are riches that he gives us that we could never achieve or deserve. That is where our tasks begin and end.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Matthew 7:3 

Blaming never starts by pointing the finger at ourselves. We see the thing that others do as wrong, and we are quick to pounce on it. But we never take the time to reflect, let alone confess, how our own wrongs and failings are only magnified in this moment of blame. Ultimately, we may even come to laying blame at God’s doorstep: “It’s all your fault!” That’s where Adam and Eve finally sought an answer to their own transgression. 

Jesus’ ultimate counter to this is not simply to note, justly, the hypocrisy of those who seek to fault others. It ultimately comes to an end by God taking the blame to the cross. The hands, feet and side will be pierced, and the thorns of his crown make their way into his skull. But there will be no faulting in his voice, and his blood will be for us and for all the end of all faults. 
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Unless I see the mark of the nails … I will not believe. John 20:25 

It had been a week. Thomas was not with the disciples the first night of Easter. Where was he? Seeking an isolated shelter, away from the community of those whom Jesus had called?

More importantly, where was he now? When the others told him, “We have seen the Lord,” Thomas is unfazed and unmoved. He wants to examine the evidence himself with his own eyes and his own hands. Do his own doubts lead us to doubt also, to close the doors of our hearts again? 

We all have doubts. Our faith and our trust can waver and even fail us. But Jesus will still be there for us, seeing us with loving eyes even when we have gone astray, waiting for us with open arms. And as we come to trust him again, we hear his word of “peace,” and he gives us his scars from the cross as our very own to trust that no scars can keep the doors of our hearts closed forever.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Luke 24:21 

On the day of Easter, two companions are making a journey away from Jerusalem to a village called Emmaus. It is a sad journey, evidenced in the tone of their thoughts and conversation. They spoke of the things that had taken place in these days. But it is all framed in despair: “we had hoped….” They did not hope now, now that Jesus was dead. All of this is brought into the light of day by the Stranger who walks with them. 

 Sometimes we, too, are caught in the sad stories in our reflection of the things that have happened. We may want to move away from them, but the sadness and despair are constant companions. And we may fail to see or to admit how deeply we are affected by it all. But we do not make our journeys alone. The Stranger, who hears the story of our lives, joins our lives with his. And when our hearts are burning with his promise, we go back to share the joy. 
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,