Divine Fingerprints

Elijah and the Buchanan family

Today is Saturday. Over the Easter weekend, this day is the dark day between Good Friday (the death of Jesus) and resurrection Sunday.

Sometimes I like to imagine what it was like to be one of Jesus’ twelve disciples. Today must have been a day of darkness and despair. The pain of Friday is magnified in the loneliness of Saturday, thinking that they are forever without their beloved Jesus.

Some of us know what it is like to suffer through the following day after losing a dear loved one. It was on a Saturday that Melanie and I learned that Elijah would never be returning home to us. The despair in those moments is overwhelming and beyond words. Melanie has gained a whole new appreciation for what Mary the mother of Jesus must have been experiencing on that Saturday.

But Jesus gave his disciples plenty of messages that he would rise from the dead on the third day. “He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.” (Mark 8:31). Did they just not understand? Did they just not have enough faith? Would I have been any different if I was there?

I sometimes wonder why they weren’t sitting in lawn chairs and drinking coffee by the tomb of Jesus on Sunday morning. They could have had front row seats to the most spectacular event in history. But when Jesus rolled the stone away, no one greeted him. I chuckled when I imagined the picture for today’s post being the first thing Jesus saw when he rolled the stone away. Don’t you wish you could have been there?

All the hope of having an impact on the world must have seemed lost in those dark hours before Sunday morning. I doubt that they were all sleeping. I had to take Tylenol PM for weeks so that I could sleep each night after the death of Elijah. I’m pretty sure that the disciples were gripped with fear and confusion and hopelessness.

But one thing is for sure: Jesus had things under control. It was the ultimate “I told you so!”  And he was about to demonstrate that our small thinking prevents us from sharing in those spectacular moments when he reveals his power and authority over darkness.

It’s easier to have faith in times of comfort. It’s easier to have faith when we can see the horizon. But in times of despair and darkness, we realize that faith is actually our refuge. Faith is the vehicle that gets us through. We just need to survive to the other side of Easter Sunday.

FAITH

Faith is not a destination
Normally achieved in one fell swoop
In a single moment of blazing revelation
But is rather a journey
Traveled in fits and starts
Three steps forward and two steps back

And it is during those times
When our faith is most ferociously tested
That we see the close proximity
Between suffering and faith
Comfort and suffering

Therefore think to observe
The comfort in your suffering
For your faith promises you that
At the very least

– Mark Peters

Please ‘like’ and ‘share’ this post as you find it helpful and inspiring. Thank you.

-Ken Buchanan