Each year across the world, we gather together on Good Friday to remember the sacrifice – the choice, Jesus made for each one of us. It’s a special day, a somber day, but a day that would set the grand stage for what God was to reveal.
As I ponder the disciples, the ones left behind, I imagine the range of emotions each one would experience on the day their loved one was taken from them. Emotions felt through the deepest physical pain, disappointment, grief, fear, unbelief, anger, emptiness and rejection. The depths of raw emotion would ebb and flow from the depths of their soul. The pain of Friday: they had lost their friend, their teacher, their Savior, but Friday, would also lend itself to a list of things that must be done. After Jesus took his last breath, He had to be taken down from the cross, taken to the tomb and prepared with linens and spices. There was a time limit because of Jewish customs. The to do list must take precedence.
The pain of Friday was real.
We have all had painful days. Most of us have even gone through a day like the disciples, a day where we felt trapped in a tornado of our feelings. A day when there were still things that must be done, while our emotions spun around us. However, the silence of Saturday would be the hardest for those that had lost so much. The day when you felt you couldn’t move your feet, while everyone else went back to his or her norm. The day when there was nothing else to be done, you were simply left with your loss and your pain and your questions. A day when you couldn’t remember what life was like before, but can’t fathom what tomorrow would hold, because it seemed it will never come. The silence of Saturday. I wonder what the disciples did on Saturday… Did they gather in the upper room wanting to just be together? Did they go back through every conversation with Jesus trying to put pieces together and asking why? Did John stay with Mary to comfort and take care of her? Saturday did not yield any answers, just questions and silence.
Then came Sunday, the day when God’s plan was revealed, the day that put the pain of Friday in context and covered the silence of Saturday. On Sunday, the disciples no longer felt alone. On Sunday, the purpose to their pain and the answers to their questions were fulfilled. God was in control and Jesus was still who they thought He was, their Savior. For others to come to Him the process had to take place. The pain of Friday, the silence of Saturday were all part of His plan. Prior to the outside world seeing Jesus, they would see the disciples. They were under a microscope to see what they really believed through the pain they had to endure. It was this process, which brought purpose to the pain. It’s this process that allows the blind to see and hearts to be restored when the sun comes up on Sunday. He is who He said He is and He is with you in your pain. There is purpose in your pain and Sunday, Resurrection Day, is what puts it all in perspective.
We live most of our life in the silence of Saturday, waiting for the purpose to be revealed. The to do list is complete and we are not sure how to go on. We ask why, over and over and the silence can be deafening. But make no mistake, God is at work and at His perfect time, His plan will be revealed for you, for me and for everyone. This is why Easter is so important. It is a day of hope, the revelation of God’s perfect will. Sunday, the day He saved us from our sins, added purpose to our pain, and created a path to live with Him for eternity, free from pain. Sunday, the day the silence was broken! Like the disciples, people are watching you, they are wondering what you really believe as you endure the painful Friday and the silence of Saturday. Do they see your hope and expectation of Sunday?
Today is Saturday and whatever you are going through, let me encourage you that Sunday is coming. Your pain is realized and you are not alone. God sacrificed His Son knowing He too would have to endure the process of the painful Friday and the silent Saturday. I can just imagine God looking down at all the disciples in the midst of their grief, saying, “Hold on my child, Sunday’s coming!”
Happy Resurrection Day!
Tecia Janes
Founder and Director of CHM
