Broken Binding

Broken Binding

Binding (Merriam-Webster)

a. To make secure by tying. “His hands were bound with rope.” b. to confine, restrain, or restrict as if with bonds.

Matthew 27: 1-2

Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

What is your story? I’m still learning how to read mine.  I’ve got this broken binding.  There are pages missing.  Some were stolen, and some were re-written without my permission.  There are pages only held together by each other. Rip one out and the others don’t make sense.  Maybe I can work my way backwards, so that I can make peace with the beginning. 

But what I want, and what you want, is for someone to take the time to read and appreciate the details.  To iron out the pages with the corners bent by the rough-handlers—those who misinterpreted your story because they didn’t understand their own; those who never finished what they started.

But there is hope. I know the author. So do you. He was bound and broken, so that we could be bound and made whole. Few cared to listen to his story, if they did they would have realized that’s where all our stories begin and end. 

Tragedy and joy. He was bound and broken so that he could repair the broken binding of your story, and re-write the missing pages to give us more than a happy ending—a new beginning that brings completion because he can read us better than anyone else; his love can fill in the blanks.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:29-31