Mtr Kelli Joyce

“Your eyes shall see your Teacher. And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’”

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

Dear friends in Christ,

The Lord is risen! We will see our Teacher - he returned to us at Easter, and promised to be with us always, to the very end of the age. And he is indeed our Teacher - the proper response to his death and resurrection isn’t a vague sense of gratitude, then going back to living life however we like, doing whatever pleases us. The resurrection should inspire love for Jesus within us, and true love of Jesus will inevitably manifest itself in specific ways.

What does it mean to embrace Christ as our Teacher? What does it mean to keep his commands? I wish it were always as simple as a voice behind us whispering “this is the way; walk in it.” But it isn’t always that clear. It requires discernment. It requires patience. It requires a willingness to hear answers that we might not like.

How can we know what it is that Jesus asks of us? We have to start with scripture. It’s so easy for us to get familiar with the Jesus of our memories and imaginations that, like the disciples seeing the resurrected Christ for the first time, we struggle to recognize the real thing when we encounter it. Jesus and his teachings are more difficult and more wonderful than our approximations of him can do justice. We owe it to him and to ourselves to follow in the way of love and justice that he set out for us for our good, and for the good of the world.

This Easter, let’s know Jesus as he is. Let’s get re-aquatinted with the beauty of the one who is so ancient and so new, and whose love is always ready to surprise us with its strength. And let’s love him in return, by keeping his commands.

In peace,
Mtr. Kelli