Wednesday, April 8, 2020 Holy Week

The countdown to the day of salvation nears its end. In the 21st century we know how this week closes; 2000 years ago they had no clue. On that Wednesday, caught up in the festivities of Passover, mingling with pilgrims from far away places who spoke different languages, pushing and shoving through the narrow crowed streets of Jerusalem, the followers of Jesus did not realize that in the dwindling hours before Sunday,  they would come to know the pain and agony of crushed dreams, dashed hopes, broken hearts.  Even when He said at the Passover supper that Thursday evening, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me – one who is eating with me. .. It is one of the Twelve, he replied, one who dips bread into the bowl with me.”  (Mark 14:17-20), they still didn’t get it. If we were them, we wouldn’t have gotten it either. He had shown His divinity on too many occasions, especially to the Twelve, to doubt that a change was indeed coming for God’s people. And that change agent was Jesus.

I think it helps this Holy Week, one cast in the shadow of a disease relentless in its spread, to remember that the darkness and fear that would descend upon Jesus’ followers in two more days, did not last. Though they forgot what He had taught about the tragedy as they experienced it, on the third day,  they discovered all was not lost. Jesus had overcome death. Life more abundant than anything they had ever known lay ahead of them.

I believe we are at this moment experiencing the pain and agony that the disciples knew then.  It seems impossible that in a nation renowned for its knowledge and expertise in most things; a nation touted for its power and influence struggles to rein in a  darkness that covers the land. But that is the reality of the moment. But it’s certainly not the end of the story. Jesus’ resurrection on that third day was not a one-off for His time. It was the beginning of His dominance over everything that befalls humandkind. Nothing is beyond His  power to heal, to renew, to restore, to transform, to save. Believers who claim that are able to face each day of “shelter in place” with a sense of peace. They know the Salvation Giver’s  reach is beyond measure; that “all things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purposes.” Yes, the days are dark; but the One who spoke both light into darkness is still sovereign. He is in control. We shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Rejoice. Rejoice. Rejoice.

Love. Joy. Peace.