On Good Friday…
Where is Jesus and why did he die?
Something I wrote for Good Friday back in 2014:
Good Friday is time of waiting. It’s a time when I find myself wrestling with what it means to have faith. Christ suffers and dies in a humiliating and painful fashion. I sit dumbfounded wondering how this happened…how did a man of grace, peace, and healing come to such an agonizing end? It feels hopeless. Darkness is on all sides. Are things really “completed” and “finished” at the cross? This is how God’s plan is finished? Surely, that can’t be true…Oddly I find comfort in my doubt. I’m not alone in my questions. These were the doubts and feelings of those first disciples, and they continue in our hearts today.
Though the pain and loss of the moment can be hard to comprehend, I’m convinced that this God of love and peace is the only one who can bring good news from this hopelessness and suffering. God enters into the fullness of human experience of all our pain through Christ’s death on the cross. Those who experience poverty, oppression, hunger, disease, heartbreak, hopelessness, and grief find a common ally at the cross. There we find a God who does not abandon us to suffering.
When we look on the cross in our grief then we can see that God is with us in our darkness. God is beside us in our pain. God weeps with us in our confusion and anger. As we wait for Easter, I try and remember those in grief, those in pain, and those who feel forsaken. I remember that my faith is found in a God who stands beside all of us in the face of hopelessness. On Good Friday I hold out this hope, that no matter what: God is with us.
We are not alone.
