By: Katie Choi
This week, I have tried to pause each day and take in Jesus’ actions leading up to Easter. I have always tried to be intentional with this, but this year, with most things stripped away, I have space. Distractions, activities, general busyness, all simplified. Good intentions that have always been there, put into action.
I have reflected on what Good Friday must have felt like to Jesus’ followers. I can imagine they felt so very sad and defeated. They didn’t know what was coming next, or rather, they weren’t really sure about what was coming next. I have said that Good Friday feels somber and heavy.
But, what a difference a day makes.
The day between Good Friday and Easter takes on a new meaning and feeling, similar to the night before a big event with so much anxious anticipation. We have an alternate view of Good Friday these 2,000+ years later because we know the next part in the story. We know that when Jesus uttered, “it is finished” that it didn’t mean the end but the beginning.
On this side of heaven, we almost live everyday like the Saturday in between Good Friday and Easter. We know what once was but we also know what is to come. We live in anxious anticipation all the time because we know something better is promised us. But when that is every day, it is easy to forget. So, we hold these Saturdays that come once a year in higher regard. We take time to remember. Too often, I live like the disciples did on this Holy Saturday, huddled in a room, scared, surrounded by my own anxiety or to-do list, and I forget everything I’ve read or have been taught about Jesus and his eternal promises. When I am consumed in my own world, everything revolving around me and my needs, it is easy to forget what comes next. That seems far off, distant. It seems like I have all this time to get it right and prepare.
Whether I live in this space for 1 year or 50, I know the good news. “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24) A father cried out these words to Jesus. May we look at our faith with the same urgency. Easter Sunday is tomorrow; the best is yet to come.
“After his anguish,
He will see light and be satisfied.
By his knowledge,
My righteous servant will justify many,
And he will carry their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him the many as a portion,
And he will receive the might as spoil,
Because he willingly submitted to death,
And was counted among the rebels;
Yet bore the sin of many
And interceded for the rebels.”
Isaiah 53: 11-12