Happy Good Friday everyone!
This weekend marks a special time for Christians everywhere–Easter weekend. In past years, Good Friday may have just meant a day off of work, but I think it has special significance this year in light of COVID-19. What we commemorate on Good Friday is the day that Jesus was crucified and buried.
Can you imagine what this day must have been like for Jesus’s disciples and followers? After Jesus’s crucifixion, the disciples went into hiding, fearing what might happen to them and probably in shock over what they had experienced.
Maybe this is similar to the way some of us are feeling right now. Cooped up at home, trying to make sense of everything and find a way to move forward from here. Change is never easy, and change this major and this fast puts a strain on all of us.
But thank God, Good Friday isn’t the end of the story. This Sunday, we celebrate Easter Sunday–Jesus’s resurrection, the day everything turned around. This is the day the disciples realized that everything Jesus said about Himself, and every promise He made, was actually coming true!
Like the disciples on Good Friday, we may be in tough, dark times right now wondering what happened to Jesus. We may feel dry or disconnected from God as everything swirls around us. But what we’re reminded of on Good Friday is that Easter is right around the corner. The hardships and pain of this moment are only temporary. We may not know when all of this will be over–it may not be next week, next month, or next quarter. But until it is over, we keep on hoping in Jesus. We hope because we know that Jesus has defeated death and disease, even though we may not see it today. Today may be Good Friday–a time of confusion and fear–but Easter is coming soon, a day when all of this will be turned around. That’s the hope we can cling on to this weekend.