I love Holy Week. This is it! Everything comes down to this! What we believe and how we live is based on the Resurrection! It’s our Superbowl if you will. If we don’t believe in the Resurrection then our faith is pointless.
Holy Week these days is usually filled with finding cute Easter attire, waving palm branches, egg hunts, special weekday services, and making a big Easter celebration dinner. Except, for this year, its not.
Let’s take a moment to remember back to Saturday. Its the day between Jesus being crucified and his Resurrection. This day between Christ’s crucifixion and His resurrection would have been a time of grief and shock as the stunned disciples tried to understand the murder of Jesus, Judas’ betrayal, and the dashing of all their hopes for Messiah.
In a way I feel like I’m stuck in Saturday right now! I am filled with uncertainty and worries. Anxiousness fills my heart. I am still in shock that this is our reality right now as we endure this pandemic. Most definitely my hopes have been dashed as my daughter’s High School Senior Year is not ending how its supposed to.
Saturday for the disciples and followers of Jesus were no doubt filled with mourning at the death of Jesus. I’m sure their hearts were overcome with grief. I think they also experienced doubt at what they thought was suppose to happen with Jesus as Messiah and when it didn’t go as they expected they began to question everything. This time for the disciples as they hid out afraid to be associated with Him was a time filled with many emotions and worry about the future.
Saturday these days is usually about egg hunts and family and joyful gatherings. The first Saturday was none of those things but a overwhelming grief with a towering uncertainty about the future. Perhaps anger at themselves for believing Jesus or shame that they didn’t stand by Him. Worry instead of worship pervaded their spirits. The hours dragged on as they just waited…. for what no one was sure.
In these unprecedented quarantine days with Covid we are doing a lot of waiting. A lot of our time is filled with uncertainty about when things will get back to normal. What will the the new normal look like? We try to answer questions for our children that no one has answers to yet. We worry instead of worship. We think Jesus has abandoned us and doesn’t see our anxious hearts and our crushed hopes and dreams.
Unlike the disciples we know how things end. In the midst of our Saturday we live with the knowledge that there is a Sunday! And oh what a celebration it is! We know that Jesus rose victoriously from the dead. We know that we serve a Risen Savior! In the midst of very uncertain times we know that Jesus prevails. It doesn’t make the path of waiting easier but we can rest in His truth and know with utmost certainty that God is by our side and He is the Victor!
So while we are stuck in Saturday a little bit longer just know that we will have a day of celebration again. God will see us through! We will hug and laugh over dinner with friends. We will be in community once again and I just bet we will appreciate those moments a whole lot more!!