Caught

A Reflection on the Second Reading for Sunday, April 26th, 2026:
Fourth Sunday of Easter

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1 Peter
2.20b-25

​Beloved: If you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.

Christ himself bore our sins in his body on the Cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

Love is to will the good of the other.

Jesus, You gave Your entire self to us. You didn’t hold back.

But I do… I hold back. I want to give my entire self to You, yet life in this world tethers me to mortal things. I’ve heard it said that Christians are amphibians, with one foot in the physical and the other in the spiritual. Before Christ, I was completely plugged in to the earthly realm – oblivious to how I was being both blessed and barraged by the spiritual realm. Now, by the grace of God, I’m forging connections to the Most High, the Holy One, Adonai, El Shaddai. It hurts to cast the dark parts of yourself into the light, but you do it anyway, because what else is there to do when your eyes are opened to the Truth?

The Lord Almighty is the One for whom I am here, yet I routinely make myself the master. How I wish to submit to You, to give You the love that You deserve – but it looks like I need Your loving help for that, too.

It looks like I need You every moment for the rest of my life.
It looks like I can’t do this without You.
It looks like You’re the reason for the air in my lungs.

What a weighty truth. It feels so heavy in my hands and has so many dimensions to it. And just like that, I turn my head away from Your magnificence and choose to occupy my God-given attention with matters that are not of eternal importance.

I’m told these heart-wrenching, emotional experiences are what it is to be human. It must be a beautiful thing, if God Himself entered into the world He created, showing us how to be beautiful through a powerful demonstration of His everlasting, sacrificial love. 

“And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death--
        even death on a cross!” (Phil 2:8).

Your steps are hard to follow, Lord. I shrink away from the prospect of suffering. The knowledge that resurrection comes after death doesn’t seem to quell my panic. I’m going to need You to stop my legs from shaking.

I receive whatever I ask for since You are my Abba.
I know I will receive endurance if I just ask You for it in faith.

Have mercy on me, Lord, because I don’t want to ask for it.
Knowing You are high and mighty,
still I want to run away from You.

Could You give me the strength to stay close?
To stand in Your light?
Maybe then I’d be able to ask for the good things.

To carry my cross and join You on the other side in glory.




Vanessa Noujaim​

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