I
anticipate EASTER every year from the beginning of Lent --and then I find I don’t
want the wonder of it all to end . . . I want to keep it fresh in my mind.
GOOD FRIDAY this year found me with many questions – how did the disciples
feel on Friday afternoon. . . I remember how lost and alone I felt the
day after my mother past. Their best
friend was gone – weren’t they just all having a meal together celebrating a
traditional feast the night before? . . They had some guilt to deal with –
WHAT
WAS IT HE SAID??? Destroy this temple
and what??? – It was truly a black
Sabbath for them. . Did they go back to the hill and think
through it all? – How many times in their minds did they walk back through the
garden?
We
are in the period pre-ascenion. I LIKE
TO CALL THEM THE 40 DAYS OF AWE. . I imagine it was a time of wondering and
deep re-thinking by the disciples. . .
Jesus
was walking this earth again with his disciples. . .HE WAS BACK.
These
are the 40 days when there was not much recorded of what he did.
I
often pose this question to my Youth Alive Kids – what do you want to ask Jesus
when you get to Heaven? You know you’ve
got questions, too ---
My
Family calls me the inquisitor – so of course --I have some questions . . .
How
long did those people stay out of the graves? Matthew says the graves were
opened and people came out of the tombs.
Did the damage from the earthquake serve as a
reminder to the people that on that Friday – they witnessed something so
miraculous?
Did
the temple priest repair the curtain and try to hang it again?
I am
certain that lambs were still being slain in the Temple. . .
What were the
teachers of the law and priest and Pharisees telling the Jewish people to
downplay what happened on that Terrible Friday?
WAS LIFE ANY DIFFERENT for the crowds of people who’d come out to hear
him in those 40 days?
The disciples were beginning to connect the dots -- What
were they asking JESUS about the days to come?
What did HE tell them about where HE was going now?
We know that he reinstated Peter during this time –
with another miracle of fish. . just like the one when He first called Peter.
How like Jesus to take us back to the place we first fell in love with Him-- when he asked Peter those 3 questions about did he REALLY love Him, He did it in front of a fire - like the place of Peter's denial.
The disciples had given it their all – Three years earlier they had left their jobs to
follow him ANYWHERE–
They had seen so much pain and agony on that short weekend -- they knew NOW what it meant to suffer for the Kingdom. The
experience during these 40 days of AWE cemented their conviction to be his mouthpiece and go wherever led to
establish his mission on earth. I think it was a rather intimate time with Jesus and his closest circle of people.
Jesus said when you eat this bread and drink the wine --remember me – I am
sure He was always in their conversations -- as they relived so much of what they had experienced
in those 3 short years -- like
"Remember the guy who came down through the roof to get healed or the herd of pigs rushing over the cliff as Jesus drove out the demons?"
We get to celebrate Resurrection Day each and every Sunday -- – what they did yearly at the Passover– we do weekly.
As they talked and remembered, I think they were always drawn back to the bread and the
wine.
