Undoubtedly, Good Friday is sad. It’s a terrible day in history; one where we recount the slain Messiah. The mockery, the abuse; the sheer torture that He endured. I mean, the sun stopped shining. Such a dark day. A day when He declared, “It is finished.” (John 19:30)
And while Friday is sad, indeed, it’s always Saturday that impacts me. I wake up the Saturday morning before Easter and think of how Jesus’ friends and disciples must have felt when they woke that morning. He is dead. Buried behind a heavy stone, tucked deep into a tomb, Jesus is gone from them. Sure, He told them He would conquer the grave (Luke 24:6), but that first Easter, they didn’t know like we know. (Luke 24:11)
Oh, but friends, Sunday comes! After the dark, after the doubt, after the pain, Sunday comes! The stone is rolled away! The tomb is empty! The perfect lamb. The greatest sacrifice. He is not there. (Mark 16:6; Luke 24:2-3)
Where ever you are in your dark, your doubt, your pain, Jesus will meet you there. He doesn’t need you to do anything–just receive the grace he poured out for you. A worthy Lamb. The most precious Gift.
“God paid a ransom to save you from the impossible road to heaven which your fathers tried to take, and the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver as you very well know. But he paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him for this purpose long before the world began, but only recently was he brought into public view, in these last days, as a blessing to you.” –1 Peter 1:18-20
He lives! Happy Easter to you and yours!