Can you imagine investing 3 years of your life to someone who now hung on a tree?  Flesh ripped off from horrendous and sadistic flogging.  Blood running down his beautiful face because he was mocked with a crown of thorns.  Hanging between two men described as thieves and best case scenario, hardened criminals that society had deemed too horrid to continue living.  

Can you imagine the thoughts running through the minds of the men and women who had left their families to follow this man?  Now hanging from what was regarded as the most shameful, brutal, agonizing way to die.  They had left everything.  Were rejected by everything that they had been raised to believe mattered.  Realizing that without him, they had nothing.  They had the courage to reject the religious entrapment that had enslaved generations.  Now that ‘courage’ hung bloody, mutilated, dying then dead on that horrid cross.

We know these men and women were afraid.  Scripture tells us that they ran (Mark 14:50) with fear and confusion.  One young man fleeing naked as they tried to hold him and ripped his linen clothing off.  Fear reigned in those moments.  Confusion instantly caused a cloud to cover what had been so beautiful and clear.  

“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me,” declares the LORD of hosts. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones.”  Zechariah 13:7 (ESV)

When, if ever, do you think the awareness that all of these things, even the disciples fear and desertion, must occur to fulfill the prophecies 800+ years before?  Why is the knowledge and understanding of scripture so needed?  Because in moments of seeming complete devastation, seeming complete desertion, understanding what has been written ‘must happen’ returns us to the very hope and assurance that brutally hung on that cross.

Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6), now lifeless on this horrid day that redeemed humanity, pleased his Father.  While I can only guess the angels mourned and Heaven stood silent, Jesus was mutilated so our broken and wretched lives could be redeemed.  

What a day.  What a terrible, horrendous day that delivered never ending hope and unquestioned assurance.  I am thankful for the example of those disciples who revealed their human failings in this seminal moment of eternity.  Their failings and abandonment give me cause to accept that I am loved and forgiven despite, not because.

Good Friday.  What a omnibenevolent God that he permitted the sacrifice of his only son on this day that reflects love in ways too marvelous to understand.  On this ‘good’ day, hope reigns as death mocked evil.  The event that caused Hell to be invaded and the righteous that went before us to be redeemed.  The paradox of death delivering eternal life to those who believe and accept is too amazing to fully comprehend and too beautiful to refuse.

Sunday is coming.  Galilee awaits.  Affirmation for the disciples is pending.  Love has not left them.  Forgiveness will reveal itself in the resurrection and life of their/our Savior, Jesus.  They had not wasted 3 years and this will soon be revealed.

Please join in the joyful mourning of the day that leads to the most beautiful morning that will ever occur.  Hope never left, even in death.