"Easy"

Tuesday night turned to taxing conflict resolution. It was “he said she said” among teens; two girls accused JP of saying profoundly unkind things. Her reply? “You are a fucking faggot,” which she rehearsed multiple times in front of me. You can only imagine how the rest of the night went. Later, a parent would be become involved with a similar level of grace and coolness.

I never heard JP say anything unsavory throughout the night and for that, the girls were angry with me as well. Regardless, I sat down with JP, one of whom I am discipling. He is believer, but the other girls are not. Though he is admittedly rough around the edges, we had a markedly different conversation than I ever could have with the two girls. Because of our mutual faith in Jesus, we reasoned on the basis of the gospel.

“These girls don’t really believe in Jesus yet, but they get to see Jesus in you if you can be good to them even if you did nothing wrong. We gotta always come back to Jesus. He died an rose again for terrible people like us even though He definitely did nothing to deserve it.”

“I’m sorry for whatever I said that hurt you.” Never ever have I been more proud of JP than when he apologized to these girls on Thursday. The shocking part of this story is that it later came out that these girls’ irritable disposition with JP had to do with something outside of school; JP had not pestered them the way they described. Julia and I later remarked on the character of JP to extend the olive branch even when he was not to blame. Would we have done that?

I’m excited about this story because it’s a measure of real life change, and it’s all because of the gospel. This week has been hard, but I feel Matthew 11:29-30 in this moment.

“All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

If you read this blog at any length, you know what when I speak of hard moments. However, the weight of this yoke is not measured in pounds and ounces but in life and death... And we saw life in JP this week. Oh how “easy” it is to carry your sick friend up the mountain to the hospital when the alternative it to carry your dead friend down the mountain to the cemetary.