Saturday In Between

 

Today, on this Saturday In Between

What we know from yesterday but don’t know from tomorrow,

I can’t help but reflect on my yesterday

As one of the most meaningful Good Fridays I can remember.

 

I must admit that I felt kind of guilty for scheduling a massage on Good Friday.

But as I lay there,

Receiving the most painful massage of my life,

I couldn’t help but think of Jesus all those years ago,

Hanging on the cross,

Experiencing the most painful moment of his life.

My massage was painful because it was deeply therapeutic.

My muscles were tight and knotted and needed pulling and stretching and kneading.

But in the end, the pain was worth it because it loosened some of my tension and

Put my body more in line.

Jesus’s death was painful because of the sheer torture of crucifixion.

I chose my massage.

Jesus did not choose his horrific, unwarranted death.

The two events are in no way equal in scope…

And yet, in the end,

Jesus’s pain was transformed into the most powerful act of redemption this world will ever see:

Jesus overcame darkness, death, and the grip of this world

To make a way for the chains of bondage to be loosened and for us to be set free.

 

But we’re not there yet.

We’re still in the In Between

Where the benefits of the pain have yet to be seen.

 

…

 

Then I went to church.

I listened as the story of Jesus’s final day unfolded.

I heard how the religious leaders used politics to manipulate an unfair, unjust outcome.

I noticed how Pilate grappled with the question of “What is truth?”

And then, for the first time in my life,

I wept at the fact that Jesus’s aunt was at the cross when Jesus died.

I’ve read the story a hundred times.

I knew that a bunch of Mary’s were there.

But yesterday, in a moment of revelation,

I saw the line that said, “Mary, mother of Jesus, and her sister”

And I realized that her sister was Jesus’s aunt.

I’d never considered Jesus having an aunt.

I’d never considered the love that his aunt must have felt for him.

But I get it.

Because the love that I feel for my nephews and niece

Is the closest thing I will ever feel to the love of a child.

And to imagine watching them suffer.

To imagine watching them die.

I weep.

And the humanity of Jesus’s story takes on a different meaning…

 

Thank God that tomorrow is coming.

 

But we’re not there yet.

We’re still in the In Between

Where tears still fall and nothing makes sense

And we hope for more

Because our hearts are broken.

 

Amen.