For most of my life I didn’t appreciate it as much as I should.
For the rest of my life, I skipped Friday and went right to Sunday.
But something I’m re-appreciating and hopefully doing so on a deeper level is… what if I, like those who followed Jesus, didn’t know? What if Friday was all I knew for three agonizing days?
What if I was a disciple, or Mary, or Nicodemus? What if I was Lazarus or the man blind from birth, or even the Roman soldier?
What if the end was Friday? Or so I thought.
Forget the prophecies about Jesus coming back, it is my pure speculation that it might have crossed some minds of Jesus followers, but then dismissed like mere fantasy.
I had dreams for years that my Dad would rise and hold me again (he died when I was five) but it never happened. I know what it feels like to have dreams die…. Literally.
Hiding in a room for fear of Rome or religious leaders. The Master is dead, the bloodhounds are out, and visions of the man you loved hanging on a cruel instrument of torture for all to see keep you in hiding. As much as you loved him, you don’t want to end up like him either.
Afraid, hungry, sleep deprived, and maybe the worst of it, your entire life, the entire direction and calling you thought God had revealed to you is now gone. Your memories flash from Jesus drinking wine at a party to Jesus declaring that the Elijah cup at Passover was his blood. From Jesus healing, to the betrayal of Judas mere hours ago.
Your life is in shatters. And frankly, you don’t know what the fuck to do.
Can we camp there for a bit. For just a couple days can we smell the sweat and the dead and the spices? Can we feel the wind in our face and stumble blindly about in the dark? Can we be so afraid of our own lives that we hide and lie and deceive? Can we feel complete hopelessness because our friend, our Rabbi, and our God is dead?
Paul says that in order to rise with Christ we must die with him. I know there’s a deep, true spiritual meaning to this; but I also think it’s very simple. Paul was not a stranger to seeing people executed by Rome as they happened publicly all around him. Paul himself was no stranger to pain and torture. I think Paul doesn’t want us to create a spiritual meaning while forsaking the memory of those who lived it.
So let us, till Sunday, end Good Friday with a period and imagine that Sunday never comes. For me, it will make Sunday much more meaningful if I pretend it’s not coming.
9 responses so far ↓
Tia Lynn // March 22, 2008 at 4:05 am
I have never been so moved by post with the F-bomb dropped in it.
This is an excellent post.
Mak // March 22, 2008 at 6:35 pm
David’s good at moving people with the f-bomb
good post babe
revolutionishere // March 22, 2008 at 6:54 pm
thanks! on those rare occasions another word just wont do.
duncanmcf // March 22, 2008 at 8:47 pm
thanks for that post, puts a new perspective on it for me
Random readings « What’s your point caller? // March 22, 2008 at 9:02 pm
[...] Random readings Filed under: Other — duncanmcf @ 10:02 pm David on what if everything stopped on good friday and you didn’t know easter sunday was coming [...]
Paul // March 24, 2008 at 7:12 pm
as i almost said in my good friday talk, we know easter sunday is coming but in our lives it so often feels like we’re at good friday - we know that things will be ok sometime in the future but the present reality is crap…
then i went with henri nouwen to end so ran out of time
good post my friend
Mak // March 25, 2008 at 1:48 am
that’s pretty much what the pastor at the local Lutheran church said (the one we occasionally attend and did on Sunday)
unorthodoxology // May 16, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Yes, yes and yes. What if Good Friday was the end of the story? (What if it is?)
Would we still follow?
Good Friday and the Saturday after it I think are the two most powerful days in the Christian calendar.
I’d argue, that most of faith is about Friday and Saturday, if we’re honest.
Christopher Lake // June 7, 2008 at 10:31 am
“Would we still follow (if Good Friday was/is the end of the story)?” Unorthodoxolgy, how is Good Friday more powerful than Easter? Paul essentially writes that he would *not* still follow Jesus, if Jesus had not been raised from the dead. What would even be the point of “following” Christ, without the resurrection? If Christ is not raised, our faith is futile, and we are still in our sins… therefore, I thank God that He has indeed been raised!
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