A Day of Mourning

Did you know that today is a day of mourning? Or at least it was once, over two thousand years ago. Because that year something terrifying happened. This man, Jesus, who thousands of people had come to believe was the Messiah, the Holy one, sent by God to redeem them from their sins, He went into Jerusalem almost a week before this day.

That day was celebrated. It was like the arrival of a King. Jesus rode on the back of a colt that had never been ridden before. People lined the streets and laid down palm branches and coats for the donkey to walk on as they shouted "Hosana to the son of David!" "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosana in the highest heaven!"

The crowds went ahead of him shouting and followed him shouting. The stirred the whole city with this triumphant arrival. But then just a few days later on Friday the unthinkable happened. One of Jesus most trusted disciples, Judas Iscariot, betrayed Him to His enemies and handed Him over to the chief priests and the Pharisees.

He was made to stand trial while yet another friend, following at a distance, denied that He even knew Him. Not just once but three times. And then when the farce of a trial was completed and all His friends had disappeared Jesus, who had never, not even once, sinned but lived a perfect life was beaten, tortured, mocked, humiliated and forced to carry a cross along the Via Dolorosa to Golgotha where He was nailed to the wood, raised up for all to mock and the sins of the entire world, past, present and future were laid on Him.

That pain was far greater then the physical torture He had suffered and the sin was so great that the Father God turned His face away. The world went black and Jesus in His final moment cried out, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they have done." And then He died. The curtain in the temple that separated the Holy of Holies where God dwelt, and the rest of the temple where the people entered, ripped from top to bottom in that moment.

And thousands, perhaps even more, mourned. And many more realized that they hadn't just killed a man they'd murdered the Son of God. And they were scared.

But our story doesn't end with this tragic day of Good Friday. It doesn't even end the next day, today, Saturday when so many mourned. If it did I would have no reason to write about it today, or write at all to be honest. Instead our story continues.

Easter Sunday came and some women went down to tomb where Jesus' body had been laid. But when they got there they didn't find the dead body of Jesus, instead they found that the huge rock blocking the tomb had been rolled away and a angel was sitting there!

He told the women not to be afraid because Jesus had risen from the dead just as He had said He would! The angel told them to look inside the tomb themselves and then to go tell the disciples. When they did Peter and John also came to see for themselves and Jesus' body was indeed gone. He had risen.

Over the next 40 days Jesus appeared many times to these disciples and others and huge crowds. He continued to teach and even more came to believe in Him. Then He ascended to heaven but someday He'll come back.

Jesus was not just a man. He was and is the Son of God. Jesus was crucified. He did rise again. He is coming back. And that is why we celebrate even as we remember the grief and sacrifice that our Lord made when He died on the cross for our sins. That if you "declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord', and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9

Happy Easter everyone! He is risen!