A reflection on a DARK easter SATURDAY

Can you imagine what SATURDAY would have felt like for those who walked with Jesus? I wonder if they felt something like this...

...Today is Saturday. Yesterday Jesus died on the cross. He called out, "My God my God why have you forsaken me" and then He died. Today He is gone and the day is rainy and glum. All we feel is doubt, darkness and despair.

“I cry out loud ...my soul refuses to be comforted”. (Ps 77)

As I look back on the events of yesterday from where I sit today, there is no hope, everyone has scattered. Judas betrayed us. Peter crumbled at the first test of courage. The temple veil was torn as if God is saying “if the Priests can murder Jesus, then holiness is a shame.” It's a torn curtain, and behind it only emptiness lies. The Roman soldiers played games with his clothes, true to form, obsessed with possessions and money as if they are all that matter. Even on the cross Jesus was mocked by those hung with him and He still forgave them. What good is done now? He is gone, he is dead. What do we do now? Do we forget about all that happened? Do we try to carry on the teaching of a ....dead, defeated, discredited leader? Do we turn cynical, disillusioned, dark, bitter? Today we allow ourselves to question everything about the story we have been told.

Maybe Pontius Pilate was right when he told Jesus that the truth didn't matter. Maybe the Sadducees are right because they believe: “life is short and then you die, so amass all the money you can, by any means you can, eat the best food and wine, because that's all there is!”

So today for me, is a day where getting out of bed is not worth it, no point really. 

What Christ? He lays in a grave, cold and dead and with him all our hopes for a better way to live...

I understand that the disciples would have been justified to feel this way. They didn't know that SUNDAY was coming.

I understand how important it is to feel our pain and despair sometimes. It is not only healthy, but sometimes the only way to truly grasp the joy of SUNDAY.

What I don’t understand is that today in 2015 so many still live this way; they live as if Sunday never happened. It seems easier to stay in TODAY (Saturday), forever. Some people have been there so long that it has become comfortable, a way of life, a crutch, a mantel they carry. Some feel they don’t have a choice. For many it has become an excuse to live in the way that they choose, anything to NOT surrender to a greater power, for that will mean they have to reconsider the meaning of their life. There are many reasons to STAY in SATURDAY. SATURDAY becomes EVERYDAY and months later they find themself still in the dark, the doubt, the despair, the pointlessness of anything, wishing that they never met Jesus in the first place.

But SUNDAY has come. When Jesus ate with his disciples on Thursday night he said "I will not eat of this bread again UNTIL ... He always spoke of this not being the end.  He prepared them for this, but they didn’t understand at the time.

However, TODAY we know that SUNDAY has come and still so many don’t want to listen.

For so many the darkness has overtaken, the despair is consuming, the doubt is an excuse to do what we want when we want. God’s heart breaks when He has done all he can to bring LIGHT to the DARKNESS, FREEDOM to the LOST and BROKEN.

Sunday has come. He has risen. He has done all He can to bring hope to this world. The question is, will you step out of your darkness that has now become your EVERYDAY...to embrace the NEW day.