DON'T skip ahead.
It's not Easter yet.
Don't pass over the chance to mourn with the Disciples; their hearts broken, their ideas shattered, their hope dashed....their fear all too present.
Allow your heart to be bruised for Mary, her precious Son horrifically taken from her. Hear the cries and sobs, the "oh whys" from the women who loved Jesus. Gathered together in grief.
What was to come? The Disciples didn't know, only that it could never be the same again. Their beloved teacher was gone.
Some had extra burdens added onto grief...Peter was consumed with guilt. John had an added new responsibility, the charge given to be a son to a mourning mother.
Haven't we all felt times of grief like this? A spouse, parent, child, relative, friend taken from us into death. The bewildering grief, sour and cold, searing with its icy touch.
The questions. The "whys." The fear of final goodbyes, the anger at the same.
Maybe we too have extra burdens to carry because of grief. Should have beens, might have beens, guilt and obligations. Heavy burdens.
But we, friends, know how the story ends. What the Disciples didn't even know to hope for, we too often take for granted.
Christ rises. And in Him, all things become new. Death is made a doorway, not a frightening end. Sin is thrown off, the Lamb's blood has paid for redemption.
Mary, the Disciples and the others grieving that dark Saturday couldn't know the joy that was coming.
And because that Joy comes, because our precious Lord IS Risen, our sorrows, griefs and burdens can be laid at His feet.
Death does not need to be goodbye forever.
Guilt can be surrendered and exchanged for forgiveness and mercy.
Burdens become lighter, because His yoke is easy.
Taste the grief of Holy Saturday so that the joy of the Resurrection is all the sweeter. Realize that no day of grief, no wake, ever had to be so bitter again. For out of that sorrow came the joy of death's defeat.
It's not Easter yet.
Don't pass over the chance to mourn with the Disciples; their hearts broken, their ideas shattered, their hope dashed....their fear all too present.
Allow your heart to be bruised for Mary, her precious Son horrifically taken from her. Hear the cries and sobs, the "oh whys" from the women who loved Jesus. Gathered together in grief.
What was to come? The Disciples didn't know, only that it could never be the same again. Their beloved teacher was gone.
Some had extra burdens added onto grief...Peter was consumed with guilt. John had an added new responsibility, the charge given to be a son to a mourning mother.
Haven't we all felt times of grief like this? A spouse, parent, child, relative, friend taken from us into death. The bewildering grief, sour and cold, searing with its icy touch.
The questions. The "whys." The fear of final goodbyes, the anger at the same.
Maybe we too have extra burdens to carry because of grief. Should have beens, might have beens, guilt and obligations. Heavy burdens.
But we, friends, know how the story ends. What the Disciples didn't even know to hope for, we too often take for granted.
Christ rises. And in Him, all things become new. Death is made a doorway, not a frightening end. Sin is thrown off, the Lamb's blood has paid for redemption.
Mary, the Disciples and the others grieving that dark Saturday couldn't know the joy that was coming.
And because that Joy comes, because our precious Lord IS Risen, our sorrows, griefs and burdens can be laid at His feet.
Death does not need to be goodbye forever.
Guilt can be surrendered and exchanged for forgiveness and mercy.
Burdens become lighter, because His yoke is easy.
Taste the grief of Holy Saturday so that the joy of the Resurrection is all the sweeter. Realize that no day of grief, no wake, ever had to be so bitter again. For out of that sorrow came the joy of death's defeat.
No comments:
Post a Comment