God Sighting Saturday {31 Days of Imperfection – Day 22}

Each Holy Saturday, I try to comprehend, just a little bit, of what that day might have been like for Jesus’ disciples.  The person for whom you gave up everything to follow was just beaten and killed.  What now?  Everything you based the entire last 3 years of your life on seems pointless.  You saw what He did, you saw He had power and authority, but why didn’t he use it… why didn’t He make them stop hurting Him?  There were many other times where he did the impossible and escaped death.  Why not now?

Like I said, I TRY to comprehend, but to be honest, it’s really hard.  Because I know what Sunday brings.  I know that Easter is coming.  One of the joys of working in a church is that you get to be a step ahead… Good Friday service is barely 10 minutes over and we’re breaking out the lilies.  Where as this “2nd day” is just a joyful day of preparation for THE 3rd day, for the first followers of Jesus, it was the day in which they questioned EVERYTHING.  They gathered together to grieve not celebrate.  They prepared, not for his resurrection, but to anoint their dead teacher the next morning.

In all this, I guess what I realize is that many times the ways in God works seem really messed up.  He works in an upside down and backwards kind of kingdom.  We want healing from an emotional burden and we have to walk back through the pain.  We want to be the greatest and he calls us to be the least.  Someone hurts us and we’re called to turn the other cheek.  We’re to love and pray for our enemies.  I don’t know about you but when I start to look at all of this, it seems kind of backwards… kind of imperfect.  Yet even when things seem broken, messed up, and imperfect to us… they may be the very things God uses to bring about the greatest joy.

We wouldn’t have Easter without the cross.

We wouldn’t have redemption without a payment for our sin.

We wouldn’t have joy unless our Savior went through the deepest despair.

I’m sure to those disciples on that Holy Saturday 2000 years ago it seemed as God’s “perfect” plan was anything but.  Why would their teacher just give up?

Because he loved them with a perfect love.

While we may have trouble contemplating what this “2nd day” was like for those disciples, I don’t think we have too much trouble remembering other “2nd days” in our lives… times when it didn’t seem Easter would ever come.  But we can remember the same hope we have today… Easter IS coming and God’s got a PERFECT plan whether we see it as that or not.

Soon… light will break through… soon … we will see the empty tomb… soon… joy will be restored. Hold on.  Easter is coming.