So What did you do this weekend?
If you have ever worked in an office, you probably remember that most of the idle chatter on Monday morning was about what everyone did over the weekend. You may have talked about the party you went to, or the movie you saw, or the restaurant where you ate. It was the typical, mundane conversation of most Monday mornings as you eased back into the work week. The Monday morning after passion week was anything but routine. When they talked about the past weekend, there would be a ton of talk about what happened Friday and Sunday, but if you read the gospels, there’s barely a peep about what happened Saturday.
John’s gospel doesn’t mention the Sabbath between the crucifixion on Friday and resurrection Sunday at all. The other three gospels only make passing reference to it. Mathew 28:1: “Now after the Sabbath…” Mark 16:1: “When the Sabbath was over…” Luke 24:56: “And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.” Luke is the only gospel writer who reported any action at all, and that action was rest!
Somehow, I don’t believe that the Sabbath on that particular weekend was very restful. I’m sure every one of Jesus’ followers spent a very long Sabbath grieving Jesus’ death. They probably wondered how their Messiah could die, and rehashed everything Jesus had said and done during His three years of ministry to them trying to figure it all out. They were confused, depressed and without hope.
I’ve felt like that, and I know you have too. When things don’t turn out like we had hoped or expected, we too can feel like Jesus’ disciples did on that awful Saturday. But sometimes, as the saying goes, “the darkest hour is just before dawn.” God had a plan that Jesus’ followers did not understand. They did not know that they would see Jesus alive again the very next day!
If we find ourselves mired in confusion about what God is doing, or if we start to think that some hardship might last forever, that’s the time when we have to remember the Saturday of resurrection weekend. When all hope seems lost, that’s when God is most busy. Psalm 30:5: “Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”
God always has a plan. We just need to trust Him. Saturday was an unimaginably sad day for Jesus’ disciples, but what unspeakable joy awaited them the next day! They only needed to trust God and wait one more day! If anyone went to work that Monday morning, the chatter around the water cooler was not about the misery of Saturday, it was about the ecstasy of Sunday. So it is with us. Hang on for one more day. Tomorrow might be the day that God brings inconceivable blessing into your life. God’s mercies are new every morning!
