There is a clap of thunder, my pastor slams shut a Bible and
exclaims, “It is finished!” We leave the
church in darkness and in silence to contemplate Jesus’ death on the
cross. This is how our Good Friday
service ended tonight (as it does every year).
It’s quite dramatic, as it should be.
The words “it is finished” seem so final and leave no room
for anything else. But we all know that
this isn’t the end. Things weren’t
really finished on Good Friday. Easter
is coming and on Easter we will celebrate Jesus’ triumphant resurrection from
death.
Yet we have this time of waiting between Good Friday and
Easter, a time in which we have to wait to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. Every single year it’s the same… sometimes I
wish that we could just hit the fast forward button and get to the good part. It just seems a little silly to wait around in
sadness remembering Jesus death when we know that he didn’t stay dead.
I have no choice but to wait. We all wait.
Every year.
And really, it’s probably good that I have to wait because I
get to practice patience and because I am reminded of what I’m really waiting
for.
Like we wait on Saturday for Jesus to rise on Easter Sunday,
we wait today (and every day) for Jesus to come again, to restore the world to
all that God intended it to be. This is
an odd and often times frustrating time of waiting. I sure don’t understand God’s timing. At least we know that Easter always comes on
Sunday, but we have little idea when the new world is coming.
We do, however, know what’s coming: a world that is just and
fair and filled with peace. Certainly
something worth waiting for.
We also know what God expects of us now as we are waiting
for this new world. God expects a lot of
us. God expects us to be watching and
waiting for the return. God also expects
us to prepare the way, announce the coming of the reign of God though our words
and actions.
The story wasn’t finished on Good Friday and the story
wasn’t finished on Easter.
Every day that I wake up, I have a choice to make. I can choose to be frustrated by the waiting,
or I can choose to be a part of this incredible story that God is writing. I can choose to play my role in being a
Christ follower and try to live according to God’s will, I can choose to do my
part to live in a way that will show the world what this story is all about.
When I go to bed tonight I will have failed to live
perfectly and do everything I was supposed to, but I know that God willing I
will have another choice to make tomorrow morning. Again I will have the choice to be aggravated
by the waiting and just give up, or I can chose to play the role God has given
me to a be a part of the most incredible story there is (even though it’s a very
difficult role to play and a very difficult story to be a part of).
I know what my choice will be. Do you?
