Good Friday leaves me experiencing a weird paradox of feelings.
We call it “good” because Jesus was crucified, and you may know the rest of the story; to Jesus’s disciples, and His mother Mary, who had no idea what was about to happen…this would have been a really bad Friday.
Can you imagine the doubt they must have experienced as they watched Jesus die? As they watched their hope die? Hanging up on the cross for all to see?
Mary, who had been told she had given birth to God-made-man, would have likely been wondering if she had heard right. The disciples had left everything to follow their God. They had 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.
Have you ever felt this way? Like God took you on a journey and then you were left for dead? Even Jesus said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” I can feel the cries of Jesus’s followers’ hearts. They must have been wrecked with…“God, where are You?” “Why aren’t You doing something?”
This would have been a really bad Friday.
They thought the story was over. Yet these few days were but the in-between for the hope that God had yet to reveal.
I saw a friend this morning. Her community was devastated by the recent flood, and in her tears was the pain of “God, where are You?” When my daughter was moments from death, I didn’t see the story ahead, and it wrecks my heart to think about how it left me feeling, at minimum, like a really bad Friday.
God had not forsaken Jesus or my friend, and He didn’t forsake me. I’m sure you have experienced those days when you are in the in-between, not knowing what is next. 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 your story too. Like the disciples and Mary, you may feel like your hope was left for dead. When you cannot see any way forward, as hard as it is, wait.
Today as we celebrate what was actually a really bad Friday, let’s sit in the place of trust saying, “Yes God, but You have good things ahead.”
I believe this for my friend, and I believe this for you. Remember those you have watched experience difficult times. Do they walk through them and say, “I learned nothing.” I bet it changed their everything. I know it changed mine.
In the in-between let’s learn all that God may have for us. Can you imagine the truths Mary and the disciples came to know? It was enough to fuel the spreading of the message that we still talk about today. Enough that the disciples all 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 to have an interactive relationship with Himself.
What might He have in-between for you that may turn a really bad Friday into a really really Good Friday?
I believe His plan is not to leave you for dead.
