“Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” That’s the haunting African-American spiritual we sing at Holy Week, asking ourselves: Were we there? Did we stick with Jesus to the bitter end? Did we really take it in?
There’s no telling what any of us would do, but fear might have easily overwhelmed me. Like Peter, I could have denied Him three times. I could have pretended I didn’t even know Jesus.
“Sometimes, it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble…” go the lyrics. It does make me tremble. Even if I had heard—like the disciples—of the promise of Resurrection. It must have been hard to believe Jesus’ return was possible after witnessing the gruesome torture of death on the cross.
Sometimes I’d prefer to skip it. Skip the Good Friday service, skip Maundy Thursday. Forget it all until Easter.
Then I remember why Good Friday is so important. It led to the Resurrection of Jesus. Without it, we would be be unable to receive the joy of Easter.
I remind myself of something our pastor once said. She observed that at the Resurrection, Jesus showed Himself first to those who stuck with Him at the last.
“There were also many women there, looking on from afar…” goes the Gospel of Matthew, “among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph…”
Only a couple verses later we read that “toward dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the sepulcher.” They were there. To discover the empty tomb.
They rush to tell the disciples, but even before they reach them, Jesus appears to the two women. They were there at the worst. They are here now to experience the amazing, stunning good news first hand.
Sometimes we have to stick through the bad times, face our own sorrow and suffering without running away, to have the greater truth revealed.
Remember the importance of Good Friday and stick with it. Easter is right around the corner.
To buy a copy of Rick’s latest book, Prayer Works, click here.
READ MORE ABOUT GOOD FRIDAY AND HOLY WEEK:
- 4 Powerful Good Friday Devotions
- 8 Prayers for Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday
- 6 Holy Week Prayers
- A Devotion for Holy Week
