Scripture: John 20:10-18
Journal: What do you need to let go of these days, in order that you may take
hold of the resurrected Jesus?
Reflection: “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father.”
(John 20:17)
I don’t know about you, but I’m
not a big fan of change. I mean, I eat
the same breakfast every day. And when I
am in town, I spend my time with Jesus in the exact same spot. I do my best writing when I am at my dining
room table. And when I have to travel I
can’t wait to get back home to my normal routine.
So needless to say, when my
dad passed away last week it was a bit of a jolt. It had been a long, hard year for him and he
was ready to go, but once he was gone it was a bit disorienting. One day you have parents and the next day
they are both gone. And as glad as I am
that they are with Jesus—and finally alive and free—it is a bit strange looking
ahead to life without them. One of our
friends called it “the second empty nest.”
And that’s exactly what it feels like.
I will miss my parents immensely, but at the same time it also opens the
future to certain possibilities that were just not available during the past
couple of years as I had to help care for them.
So while it is disorienting and frightening, it is also leaves me
curious and hopeful. What does God have
in store for this next season of life?
It feels a little like
swinging on a trapeze bar. You enjoy the
security and the stability and the safety and the comfort of the bar you are
currently holding onto, but in order to experience the trapeze the way it was
meant to be experienced you must, at some point, let go of the bar you are holding
onto and take hold of a bar that has not yet come into view. It is impossible to take hold of the new if
you are unwilling to let go of the old.
And that can be incredibly scary, because for an instant you are hanging
in midair.
I’m guessing that’s kind of
how Mary and the disciples felt at the death and resurrection of Jesus. In fact, as Jesus appeared to Mary outside
the empty tomb he had to tell her not to hold on to him. In some ways she was going to have to let go
of what she knew of Jesus up to that point in order to take hold of the Jesus
she did not yet know. And that had to be
both terrifying and exhilarating. “Mary,
let go of the me you have grown comfortable and familiar with, so that
you can take hold of a me that is bigger and more glorious than you ever
dared dream of.”
You see, in the spiritual
life we must constantly be willing to let go of the old, in order to take hold
of the new. We can’t grasp the new bar
until we are willing to let go of the old one.
Or, as Jesus once reminded us, we can’t put new wine in old wineskins. Our old ways of being and seeing cannot
contain the new life of the Spirit that God desires to pour into us. So in order to fully embrace the new, we must
first be willing to fully let go of the old.
That’s what the resurrection is all about. The only question is, are we willing?
Prayer
Closing
Prayer: Jesus, I keep trying to hold on to you, and
not in a positive way. I try to keep you
familiar and manageable and comfortable, rather than allowing you to be wild
and uncontrollable and free to do whatever you may want to do in my life. Lord Jesus, help me not to hold on to you,
but help me to let you be all that you desire to be in my life and world. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.
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