Before Sunday Came.

Holidays these days seem to always sneak up on me. Easter is no exception. 

Even though it follows a season of Lent and preparation, and a week of walking through the story of Easter...it still seems to sneak its way into the calendar. 

This year I wanted that to be different. Because it deserves to be different. So I began to pray that this year God would reveal the truth and reality of Easter to me in a new way. And He has been! But it hasn't been the prettiest process. 

Easter, today, is all about celebration! We get to celebrate the last supper, and the death of Jesus, and the day He was in the tomb...because we know how the story continues. We know the victory of the third day and the hope of salvation! We have a reason to celebrate! 

But that wasn't the story for the disciples and loved ones of Jesus. They lived it. They felt it. They knew only what was before them. And I can only imagine how hopeless they must have been. For them it was Friday, and they weren't sure if Sunday was coming...hopeless. For them the man they dedicated their lives to was gone. They devoted themselves to his teaching and believed he was the son of God. They saw his power as he performed countless miracles. They heard him speak of hope beyond compare. They walked with him through the joys and triumphs, listened to him rebuke and restore the people around him, and change the lives of others forever. They saw him avoid the traps of the leaders of the law and religion with His truth and lifestyle. They saw him live a sinless life. Then they watched him die...a sinners' death...a brutal death. He was lifeless. And they were hopeless. 

There was no hope of the future when their present reality was so real. The man they trusted was gone. They heard all He had to say and they clung to every word. Now, they were left confused and alone. 

Think about it...we encounter shock and confusion similar to this. When you see a loved one who has always been strong become weak and sick, or your plans for the future fall apart, or your significant other decides to stop investing in a relationship that seem to have a promising future, or even when we lose a loved one unexpectedly...that is a small taste of the hopelessness of the disciples. From their perspective, they were alone and unsure of how to navigate their new reality. They were hopeless before that Sunday came. 

When we acknowledge the pain and hardship of the ones who walked through life with Jesus on a daily basis, the power of Sunday becomes so much more real. The pain of Friday and Saturday makes the joy of Sunday all the more worth rejoicing. The loneliness on the first two days makes God's desire to be with His people so much more intimate. We cannot ignore the days leading up to Sunday because they show us the importance of Sunday coming. 

What if Sunday never came? What if Jesus did not conquer death and rise from the dead? What if He left his friends in the midst of their hopelessness? 

He could have. 

But He's not that kind of God! He is a faithful God. He wants to be with us. He is the God of hope, even when hope seems so hard to find. He does not leave, even when loneliness seems unbearable. He rose again because the idea of leaving us alone was too much to bear. He is a good God who does not want us to remain hopeless. He wants to be with us in the midst of the joys and the unbearable hardship. He will restore and heal. He works beyond hopelessness, so hang on. Sunday is coming in the midst of of even the darkest Fridays of life. 

God is still God, even when the disciples were filled with despair. God is still faithful, even when our faith in Him is radically shaken. God is still worthy of trust, even in the midst of our confusion. God is still pursuing us, even when we don't want to pursue Him in return. God is still God, and He is still more powerful, worthy, beautiful and present than we could ever comprehend! Reflect on the depth of hopelessness that came on Friday, but don't let yourself stay there! Whatever your Friday may be in your life, remember that God is the same God today as He was the day Jesus rose from the grave! He is the God of the hope that Sunday brings! 

Happy Easter! May you see the reality of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection in a new light this year! May Easter be more than a familiar story!