B5. The Day Before Easter

There’s no darkness like the day before Easter.  Those living out the story cannot see the morning.  There is no Easter.  There is no resurrection.  There is no hope.  Everything in life that was beginning to come together and make some sense has been snapped from beneath us, has turned to a dark abyss in which we are falling, falling, falling in total darkness.  All that sustained us is dead.

Everything around which we had built our life is gone.  A job.  A relationship.  A child.  A purpose.  A world view.  A theology.  Nothing remains but the deepest darkness, and we’ve nowhere to turn.  Nothing is left but emptiness and defeat.

God is not here.  If ever there was a God, he has turned his back on us and walked away.  Such darkness and confusion could have no other meaning.  If God were working on some kind of master plan, he surely has given up.

I do remember some other very dark spots in my life, some brief, some painfully long.  Even in the darkest of these, dawn returned, and life was forever changed and richer for the experience of the darkness.  I must admit it has been my darkest moments when God has worked most powerfully in my life.  I might even say the darker the dark, the brighter the morning, always with fresh insights, deeper joy, and new life.  And God’s fingerprints were all over every dark path.

This time is different though.  There could be no other darkness so deep.  There could be no rhyme or reason for this night.  There could come no morning to fix death.



Related post:  Palm Sunday Meditation

B4. Palm Sunday Meditation

Hosanna!  Hosanna!   Hosanna in the Highest!  Hosanna to the King!   We rejoice in worship!  We exalt You!  We wave our palm branches and shout Your praises!  You are the King of Kings!  You are the Lord of Lords!  Today.

But what a week lies ahead.  We don't see it coming.  We carelessly forget You in our work interactions.  We ignore You as our loved ones annoy us.  We don't have time to seek Your face or try to please You.

Before the week is over, we will turn from You.  We will shame You.  We will betray You.  Our shouts of praise will turn to violent shouts of "Crucify Him!"  We will forget today's joy, as silently You are led to Your slaughter.  Yes, this very week we will forsake You.  We will turn our backs as You are killed.

A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!"  "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"  "Hosanna in the highest!"  (Matt. 21:8-9)