It’s Saturday.
The most hopeless day in history. Hope personified is laying in a tomb, lifeless. The disciples are hiding, mourning the death of their friend and teacher, grieving over how they had abandoned and denied Him, wondering how this man of miracles was so easily murdered in humiliation.
The man for whom they dropped their entire lives to follow, the man who was supposed to be the promised Messiah they had been awaiting for generations, is dead.
Had they been deceived? Was everything they had followed and believed for the past three years a lie? Surely, the true Messiah could not be killed. Not like this.
Hopeless, angry, disappointed, guilty, afraid.
This doesn’t feel like victory.
We judge the disciples for hiding in their doubt. They had prophecies and Jesus’ spoken word to remind them He would rise again, yet in their grief they forgot. We marvel at how easily their faith and hope crumbled.
But the disciples were staring at a grave. We shake our heads, but we are worse. The full canon of the very Word of God, four eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ ministry & death & resurection, and even the ending are all easily available to us. Yet we still doubt. We still hide in a room, wondering where God is, if we’ll make it, if this is worth living for, if this is even real.
We live like it’s still Saturday.
We live as if Jesus has not already declared victory and bestowed it upon those who follow Him. Life often doesn’t feel like victory so we settle for living in defeat.
Jesus knew his disciples would abandon Him and run back to fear in His absence. He knew we would doubt Him. But I am so grateful that His faithfulness does not rely upon my belief.
Sunday isn’t coming; it’s already here.
We aren’t serving a dead Saviour, awaiting His resurrection. He has already beaten death and defeated the fear and doubt that seek to entangle us. We are fighting from victory.
We know, now, that tomorrow is victorious. We now rest in the secure hope that Jesus is not confined by time and has already defeated Satan and reigns as King of kings. We get to be on the winning team!
Sunday is already our hope!
Let’s live every day in the victory of our resurrected Savior.
by Kat Smith (my daughter)
4/17/22
