I write this on The Saturday after The Friday and before The Sunday. The day in the middle after Christ died and before He left the tomb empty and appeared to the two men on the road to Emmaus and then to the disciples who should have known better than to fear. A little over a year ago I waited in a hospital bed for my body to respond to the plasmapherisis treatment that would hopefully allow my body to start functioning again. As I have written in a previous blog, I can’t explain why but I did not ask “Why me?” Once I knew I would not be put on a ventilator (little did I know what that would mean a year later) I never was afraid because I had been told by those I trusted that I would get better; That my paralyzed body would once again function properly. I also never doubted God was with me even though it took longer for the treatment to work and in the darkest of nights when I couldn’t sleep. Psalm 91;5 “Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day” I chose instead to focus on Isaiah 40;31 “but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.“
Just as we are doing now, the disciples waited. John 20: 19 “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.”As we wait on this Saturday for Sunday, the difference now vs then, is we know how it ends. As we wait for this Covid-19 to lessen its grip, don’t wait in fear like the disciples did locked up in that room. Had they listened, the you would remember that Jesus told them what was going to happen. Mark 10: 33.34 “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.” Once they saw that He had conquered death, they went out proclaiming the Good News that he is not dead at all. Are we waiting in fear because of Covid-19? Or will we too go out bringing Hope and Light into our part of the world trusting knowing Sunday is coming and when it does we will celebrate that He has Risen. Hallelujah.
