Good Friday leaves me experiencing a weird paradox of feelings.
We call it “good” because Jesus was crucified, and while we may know the rest of the story…to Jesus’s disciples and His mother Mary, who had no idea what was about to happen…it would have been a really bad Friday.
Can you imagine the uncertainty they must have experienced as they watched Jesus die? As they watched their hope die?
Mary, who was told she had given birth to God-made-man, may have been wondering if she had heard right. The disciples left everything to follow Jesus. They stood against the religious leaders of their time claiming there was a new way, and this God, their Messiah, this New Way, was hanging on a cross for all to see. The uncertainty must have been paralyzing. Their fear left the disciples hiding away in a locked room.
We may find ourselves feeling that way right now. We have asked God to stop this virus from spreading, and we find ourselves quarantined in our homes, fearful and uncertain.
Even Jesus said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” I can feel the cries of Jesus’s followers’ hearts, and I hear them in ours. Just as the disciples must have been wrecked with… “God, where are You?” “Why aren’t You doing something?” at times we may find ourselves wondering the same thing.
It would have been a really bad Friday if the story was over. Yet in the in-between, God was winning. He was rescuing us.
Driving to the store, I see panicked eyes peeking out of masks. We can’t yet see the story ahead. It breaks my heart to see the desperation and fear of people alone and afraid. It feels like a really bad Friday.
Yet, God had not forsaken Jesus, and He has not forsaken us. As we experience these days in the in-between, not knowing what is next, let’s wait for the rest of the story.
In three long, painstaking days, God will breathe life into Jesus’s dead body, and God can breathe life into our story too. Like the disciples and Mary, we may feel like our hope is left for dead. When we cannot see what is ahead, as hard as it is, wait.
Today, as we celebrate what looking back, was a really Good Friday, let’s sit in the place of trust, remembering, “God when things look dim, You have good things ahead.”
I believe this for myself, and I believe this for you. As we walk through difficult days in the in-between, let’s learn every bit of what God might have for us in this quarantine.
Can you imagine the truths Mary and the disciples came to know as they waited? It was enough to fuel the spreading of the message that we still talk about today. Enough that the disciples died telling the truth that they saw happen before their eyes.
What may God have for you in the in-between? For us between Friday and when our Savior rose again three days later, God made a way for us not to be separated from Him any longer.
What might He have in-between for you that may turn a really bad Friday into a really really Good Friday? What reality could you realize no other way than during these desperate times?
Let’s be asking in the in-between what reality He wants to make true in our hearts today. God is our certainty in the uncertain. He is calm in the storm, and we know the end of the story. God wins. Let’s be looking for where He is winning this weekend.
My prayer is that He would make His home in your heart as you trust Him. That would make Good Friday, the Best Friday.
HLLF,
