Ps 37:1-18 Luke 5:1-11
Easter often makes us feel a little lighter of spirit and a little relieved. We've read, heard, considered from multiple perspectives the story of Jesus' birth, life, ministry, trial, death and, finally now, resurrection. Then there's the morning after. Do you ever wonder what the disciples felt and thought the morning of the day after the women came from the tomb and told them what the angel said when they were looking into the empty tomb? I have to admit, I never used to, but the older I get, I do. Easter Monday dawns and there's still work, home stuff, yard stuff, daily life that we must see to, no matter how our hearts felt the day before.
In the story from Luke, we see Jesus encountering some of the disciples hard at their work, and rather discouraged. After a night of fruitless toiling for fish that just weren't there, Jesus tells them, "Put your nets on the other side of the boat," and they're very nearly swamped by the quantity. Funny thing though, when he told them to leave their nets, he wasn't saying "You can retire now." No, they were still to be working, just doing something different. Catching, gathering, harvesting something else.
In the Psalm above, we are exhorted not to get bent out of shape over those who bring pain, injustice, outright evil into our lives. Those people who seem to get a kick out of mucking up our lives by messing with us, sometimes in the most painful of ways. Perhaps the link between these scriptures is that no matter what, life is going to go on, and we have to figure out how to live it and walk through it without letting it emotionally eviscerate us.
Maybe the post-Easter walk is one of letting go of the temptations of Lenten life - the temptation to hold onto the pain and hurt we've experienced; the temptation to hold onto the unhealthy desires and obsessions that gnaw at us; the temptation to hold onto the desire for life finally to be a little easier. Maybe the post-Easter walk is one of realizing that, just as the disciples still walked the same streets, saw the same people, ate the same things as the days before Jesus' death, we still work the same jobs, have the same chores to do, errands to run and expectations of us as we had the day before Easter. The aid of the resurrection is in not dragging the accumulated baggage with us. Christ didn't tell the disciples to pack a bag and follow. Christ told them to leave their encumbrances and just come. I hope I live to see a day when I'm more successful at doing just that, but until then, I'll just keep working at it, working at not working so hard at it, and just living with a resurrected spirit. God helping, of course.
David Lee
Easter often makes us feel a little lighter of spirit and a little relieved. We've read, heard, considered from multiple perspectives the story of Jesus' birth, life, ministry, trial, death and, finally now, resurrection. Then there's the morning after. Do you ever wonder what the disciples felt and thought the morning of the day after the women came from the tomb and told them what the angel said when they were looking into the empty tomb? I have to admit, I never used to, but the older I get, I do. Easter Monday dawns and there's still work, home stuff, yard stuff, daily life that we must see to, no matter how our hearts felt the day before.
In the story from Luke, we see Jesus encountering some of the disciples hard at their work, and rather discouraged. After a night of fruitless toiling for fish that just weren't there, Jesus tells them, "Put your nets on the other side of the boat," and they're very nearly swamped by the quantity. Funny thing though, when he told them to leave their nets, he wasn't saying "You can retire now." No, they were still to be working, just doing something different. Catching, gathering, harvesting something else.
In the Psalm above, we are exhorted not to get bent out of shape over those who bring pain, injustice, outright evil into our lives. Those people who seem to get a kick out of mucking up our lives by messing with us, sometimes in the most painful of ways. Perhaps the link between these scriptures is that no matter what, life is going to go on, and we have to figure out how to live it and walk through it without letting it emotionally eviscerate us.
Maybe the post-Easter walk is one of letting go of the temptations of Lenten life - the temptation to hold onto the pain and hurt we've experienced; the temptation to hold onto the unhealthy desires and obsessions that gnaw at us; the temptation to hold onto the desire for life finally to be a little easier. Maybe the post-Easter walk is one of realizing that, just as the disciples still walked the same streets, saw the same people, ate the same things as the days before Jesus' death, we still work the same jobs, have the same chores to do, errands to run and expectations of us as we had the day before Easter. The aid of the resurrection is in not dragging the accumulated baggage with us. Christ didn't tell the disciples to pack a bag and follow. Christ told them to leave their encumbrances and just come. I hope I live to see a day when I'm more successful at doing just that, but until then, I'll just keep working at it, working at not working so hard at it, and just living with a resurrected spirit. God helping, of course.
David Lee
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