On this day, over two thousand years ago, the followers of Christ were still in disbelief over what they had witnessed. Can you imagine the silence the day after their Lord was murdered? They had witnessed the shouting crowds that called for His crucifixion. They had heard the hammer blows, the mocking voices, the thief who believed in Him, and the one who mocked Him. The one they had followed, loved, and served was gone. Their world was shattered. Many had left family, jobs, and friends to follow Him. In their hearts, they believed He was the promised Messiah, the one who would free them from Roman rule and establish a new, visible kingdom. Luke 24:21 says, “they trusted He would redeem Israel.” I am sure in their sorrow, there were mixed feelings of anger and fear. Anger because their Master and friend had been unjustly executed like a common criminal. Fear, because they, too, might be murdered for being His followers and sharing the words of true salvation. Jesus had healed their friends and family. He had loved them unconditionally. He had taught them in ways they had never heard. Yet, now the day is silent. The events of the week had passed so fast. Their emotions were on a roller coaster as they remembered each day. How did they feel? What should they do? What would come next? These questions must have been running rampant in their minds as they consoled each other and still tried to go on with their lives.
Luke 24:21 “But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.”
The six days before the crucifixion, Jesus’ ministry had transitioned from a celebration with a royal entry into Jerusalem to confrontations with the religious leaders. The accusations, beatings, and mocking culminated in His arrest and execution. His followers must have been asking each other and themselves how this could happen so fast. What would they do now that He was dead? They were experiencing profound grief. They had no idea that His crucifixion was a victory, not a defeat.
Luk 9:21-22 “And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing; Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.”
How quickly the disciples forgot the promises Jesus had made about rising again. Suddenly, they were living by sight, not faith. He had told them this day would come, but they were focused on the tragedy they had witnessed. They were allowing the immediate pain to overshadow the truths Jesus had taught them.
While Jesus lay in a grave, God was still working. There was no defeat on God’s part. He was about to reveal His greatest triumph. Maybe this Easter, you feel defeated and confused just like the disciples. Your life is not as you had planned. You have prayed and asked God to do something, and it did not happen the way you thought it would. They were consumed with what was, in their estimation, a tragedy. Is that where you are today? Are you beaten down by the circumstances to the point that your hope is almost gone? To this I say hang on, Sunday’s coming! Don’t allow the immediate pain to overshadow the eternal promise. Think of this life as a staging ground preparing you for eternity. Jesus’ story did not end in the grave, and ours does not either. We can have peace that no one can take away. We have hope that is secure. We experience a love that is unending and everlasting.
We have the advantage the disciples did not have: we have the complete written word of God. We know what happened and what is to come. God is not dead, and our story is not over. Nothing is better than what we have coming, and we have the Holy Spirit within us to navigate the dark days. I leave you with Paul’s words in I Thessalonians 4:13-18. Read these verses and allow them to sink in deep. If you are a believer, you will want to shout praises to the Risen King.
I Thessalonians 4:13-18 “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
