Luke was no stranger to unkindness. All of his life, he’d been bullied by his older sister, Anna. Growing up, she was taller and stronger than he was, and so there was little he could do to fight back when she’d shove or punch him.
Not only would she hurt him physically. She was always calling him names, telling him how stupid he was, or that he was ugly. Sometimes, when no one could see him, he would cry because he believed her.There were other things that she did, things that weren’t directed at him, but still affected him very deeply. She was so much smarter than he was. Whenever she got good grades, their parents were always very pleased. Luke didn’t like to read very much, and he didn’t do nearly as well in school. Everyone in his family told him how he should try harder, read more, and do better, like his sister.
Anna always made him do things for her, too. “Luke, I want to use the computer now,” she’d say when he was surfing the Web. She would bother him and threaten him until he let her. And when Mom asked Anna to do something, she would usually force Luke to do it for her.
His sister wasn’t all bad though, Luke had to admit. And despite everything she did, he loved his sister. Sometimes she’d share with him; always taking the bigger half or the first and longest turn, of course. They did have fun together sometimes, when they weren’t fighting.
Luke didn’t aspire to much in life; he could never do better than Anna at anything anyway. He just liked to play video games and watch cartoons whenever he could, and as long as he was doing either of those things, he was happy.
He tended to retreat to his room more and more often now, to get away from the fighting. Anna and Mom had been yelling at each other a lot lately, and he hated to get dragged into it. And when they were done screaming at each other, they both would take their remaining frustration out on him if given the chance. It was best to avoid them both for a few hours at least.
They were going at it again, and Luke cringed inwardly with every word he heard.
“You are not leaving this house until you wash those dishes!”
“I’ll do them later!”
“I want them done now!”
“But why?”
“Because I do!”
“Why?”
“Because I said so!”
“Why can’t I just do them later?”
“Do those dishes right now or you’re grounded!”
“But I don’t feel like it right now!”
“I don’t care what you feel like, I am your mother and you will obey me!”
“Why can’t you do them?”
“I asked you to, and you will.”
“Sure, later.”
“Anna!”
Luke sighed and pulled his blankets over his head. He could never completely block out their bellowing, but he could try.
A few minutes later he heard a door slam and knew that Anna had been sent to her room. But it wasn’t safe yet. Mom would probably want at least one of her kids to do some chores, and there would be no arguing with her after what had just transpired. So he continued to hide out in his room.
“Luke!”
Luke opened his eyes and realized that he had fallen asleep.
“Luke!” came the call again. “Dinner is ready!”
Tentatively, Luke left his room and made his way to the kitchen. Anna was sitting at the table, glaring malevolently at her plate, and mom was spooning green beans onto her own. “There you are!” she said when she saw him. “We were about to start without you.”
“Sorry,” he mumbled. “I fell asleep.”
“That’s alright,” Mom said with a forced cheeriness, “Just come sit down and we’ll say grace.”
He did as he was told, and Mom said a short prayer thanking God for the food.
They ate in silence, occasionally broken by Mom asking Luke about school or his plans for the week. Nothing interesting was going on in school, he really didn’t have any plans, and eventually she gave up. Anna refused to say a word.
The air in the room was heavy with quietness and tension, so Luke hurried to finish his pork chops and applesauce. Even though he was still hungry, and pork chops were his favorite, he decided to forgo seconds in order to escape. He gulped down the meal, stood, rinsed his plate, and rushed to leave the room. Before he could, Mom asked, “Honey, are you sure you don’t want more? Or some dessert?”
“I have homework,” he said.
“We have Rocky Road,” she tempted.
Luke felt his mouth begin to water. He loved chocolate. But the ice cream wasn’t worth the iciness in the room. “Nah, I really need to get to work. Big test coming up.”
“Alright, sweetie. If you need any help, you can come and ask me.”
“Thanks,” he said, and made his exit, breathing a sigh of relief.
Life went on like this for the next few days, until the weekend finally arrived. Luke was glad for the reprieve from school, but he also dreaded having more time around his mom and sister. Or, that is, more time to have to hide from his mom and sister.
He slept in on Saturday, and then stayed up late beating level after level of a tricky first person shooter. Luckily, he was left alone for the most part, because Anna was spending a lot of time sulking in her room. It was really relaxing, getting to just be by himself and game. Well, maybe relaxing wasn’t the best word, because some of these bosses were pretty intense. But he had fun.
Sunday morning, his mom gently shook him awake. “Morning, sleepyhead,” she said. “Are you going to come with us to church today?”
He was exhausted from his late-night gaming session. “Would you mind if I stayed home and slept today?” he asked groggily.
“Well, if you really want to,” Mom said reluctantly. “But I’d really like for you to come.”
He considered getting up and leaving his warm bed to go sit in a pew, and weighed it against his mom’s disappointment. She’d get over it. “I think I want to catch some more Z’s. But I’ll go next week,” he promised.
“Okay. But remember to get some studying in today. You need to keep those grades up.”
“Alright, I will,” he replied, already starting to fall back asleep. He dreamt about blasting aliens to bits.
Later that day, Luke emerged from his room in search of a good, unhealthy snack. When he reached the kitchen, Anna was there, apparently hungry also. She looked away from the fridge as he entered and greeted him. “Hey, Luke.”
“Hey,” he said, noticing that her eyes looked red from crying. “Do you know if we have any chips left?”
“Uh, yeah, I think mom hid them in that cupboard,” she replied, pointing. “You know how she wants us to eat healthy.”
Luke half-smiled. “Yeah. But I prefer to eat tasty.”
Anna gave a little laugh, and pulled a blueberry yogurt from the fridge. “I know what you mean, little bro.” She got a spoon and sat at the table to eat.
Luke retrieved his junk food and retreated to his room again, leaving his pensive-looking sister alone with her yogurt and her thoughts.
The next day, Anna was silent again on the ride to school; this time, she seemed thoughtful rather than sulky. Luke was quiet as well, but that was normal for him.
He made his way through the day, surviving the usual combination of boredom and frustration, along with a haunting feeling of loneliness that he could never seem to shake. School was hard, but it’d be a lot more bearable if he had some friends to share the misery with. Problem was, he was so shy that a lot of people most likely thought he was unfriendly. As always, he was glad when the final bell rang at the end of the day.
Once home, he withdrew to his room as usual and started his algebra homework. If he finished early, he could probably get in some good gaming time. He hadn’t been at it for long when he heard a knock at his door. “Come in,” he said, figuring that it was Mom checking up on him. To his surprise, it was Anna who entered.
“Hey,” he said.
“Mind if I sit down?” she asked, gesturing to his bed.
“Sure,” he consented, curious as to why she was there.
She sat and stared at the floor for a few moments. “Sorry. I have something I want to say, but it’s kind of hard.”
“That’s okay,” Luke said, his curiosity growing by the second.
Anna heaved a deep sigh and began. “I know I haven’t been the best sister to you.” She laughed a little. “Actually, I’ve been a pretty terrible one. I’ve treated you like crud, which you totally don’t deserve. Even though you can be an annoying little pest sometimes.” She paused. “But you’re a really great brother, and I love you. You’re not any of the things I say to you when I’m mad. I really think that you’re pretty smart, even if not in the way school and Mom and Dad want you to be. I just want to say that I’m sorry for the way I’ve been, the things I’ve done and the things I’ve said. I’m so sorry for the way I’ve made you feel, and for not being a better example to you, too. I hope that you can forgive me, but I’ll understand if you don’t want to. I know I don’t deserve it.”
This was followed by an awkward silence. Luke didn’t know what to say. He was shocked by what he’d just heard.
Anna rose from his bed. “I’ll let you finish your homework.”
Luke nodded mutely, and Anna left the room, quietly shutting the door behind her. Luke wondered if he had entered the twilight zone, or a parallel universe, or if perhaps he was dreaming.
In the days that followed, Anna seemed like a completely different person. She did what Mom told her to do, and didn’t even complain (too much) about it. She treated Luke with a kindness that baffled him. She let him use the computer without bugging him, helped him with his homework, and even offered to do his chores! At first, he thought she wasn’t serious. And then that maybe she was trying to get on Mom’s good side for some reason. But she just kept giving without asking for anything.
The next weekend, as she finished explaining cultural diffusion to him, his curiosity got the best of him. “Anna, why are you acting so different?” he blurted out.
A smile slowly spread across her face. “Well, I’m glad you asked, Luke.” And she started to tell him about how Mom had forced her to go to church last week. “I really didn’t want to, and I was especially mad that she wasn’t making you go, too,” she said, “But she wouldn’t let me out of it.
“When we got there, I was determined not to listen to a word. But when the pastor started speaking, he talked about how we’re basically slaves in life.” Her smile grew. “I thought, ‘You got that right, man. My mom totally treats me like a slave.’ But he was saying that when we sin, you know, like lying, stealing, disobeying parents and whatever, we’re like slaves to that stuff. It’s like we can’t stop even if we want to.” Her face became serious as she said, “And I actually got what he was saying. I’ve totally been enslaved to being angry all the time, and a bunch of other stuff. Then he said that there’s almost no way that we can get free, unless we become a slave to something else. Really, to Someone else: God.
“He read this verse where Jesus says that the burden He gives us is light, and told us that God isn’t like a slavedriver, but just wants what’s best for us. That’s why He tells us to do the stuff that He wants us to do, even if it doesn’t always make sense. He invited us to ask Jesus to become our Lord, which is like another word for master, instead of being mastered by our sinful desires. And I did.”
“Wow,” Luke said.
Anna grinned. “I know. And this past week, I’ve been trying really hard to follow Jesus instead of all my selfish impulses. It hasn’t been super easy, but I’ve been praying and reading this Bible that they gave me. That helps a lot.”
Luke began to think about what his sister was saying. In a weird sort of way, it really made sense. He’d always believed in God, but the whole following Jesus thing never seemed to be for him. Now, looking at his life, looking at himself, he saw someone who was mastered by fear and selfish desires. Anna was conquering those things, and God seemed to be the only viable way to do that. So, before he’d even fully processed them, these words left his mouth: “I want to be God’s slave, too.”
“Oh, Luke, I was hoping you’d say that,” Anna exclaimed with tears in her eyes.
They prayed together, and Luke asked Jesus to be the One he followed, and to show him how to live his life. Anna prayed that they would both become more like Him, and that they’d have the strength to obey when it was hard.
Once they’d said amen, Luke realized that he didn’t feel any different. “I didn’t either,” said Anna. “But I know I’ve changed. And you will too.” She smiled. “Not that I don’t love you just as you are, little bro. And Jesus really does too.”
“Anna,” Luke said slowly, “I need to tell you that...I forgive you. For everything.”
“Thanks you, Luke. I know that Jesus has forgiven me for all I’ve done, but it means a lot to have your forgiveness too.”
She gave him a hug, and then they heard Mom calling them for dinner.
Anna volunteered to say grace. “Well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise,” Mom said, smiling.
“Well, there’s a lot that I have to be thankful for,” Anna said, smiling at Luke.
He smiled back. Then they bowed their heads and sincerely thanked God for the food, the day, and each other.
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