The four Gospels give us an extensive summary of what Jesus and his disciples did from their entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday through that Thursday evening. We also have a painfully detailed account of the abuse, ridicule, and pain Jesus suffered through his crucifixion and death on what we now call Good Friday. However, the Gospels are silent from Jesus’ burial until Sunday morning. The last sentence of Luke 23 says that the women who went to see the
tomb as Jesus was buried, returned and “On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.” John 20:19 tells us that through Sunday evening the disciples of Jesus were still hiding in the house where they had gone after the crucifixion for fear for their own safety. They were stuck in between the tragedy of Good Friday and the joy they would experience when the resurrected Christ appeared to them.

I can’t fully imagine what that Saturday was like for those followers of Jesus caught in a horrible mix of grief and fear, their dreams and hopes dashed, and their lives completely unhinged. I’m sure for them time seemed to stand still in a place of deep darkness and pain. They were in an awful place, in-between the loss of their Lord and an uncertain, perhaps even frightening future.

Many of us have had a time or a situation where we have felt stuck “in between,” perhaps haunted by a recent sorrow, a deep disappointment, or nagging anxiety about something major. The reality is that most of life’s experiences happen while we are “in-between.” It is rarely as dramatic as what the disciples of Jesus experienced that long Saturday, that dark Sabbath; however, the uncertainties of life seem overwhelming at times.

We live in a time of great uncertainties: a volatile economy, societal divisions, wars that threaten to expand, and a plethora of bad news. We are caught in between dynamics that feel unsolvable and threatening.

The Christian scriptures teach us that, while it often doesn’t seem so, the future is in God’s hands and God’s will is for love and justice to have the last word for those who live in faith, hope, and love. This Saturday, whether we are preparing for a glorious Easter celebration or struggling with an “in-between” that terrifies us, let us remember that we are called to live faithfully and to be ambassadors of hope and grace for the world whatever the circumstances. As Paul admonished the Christians of Thessalonica living in tumultuous times: “encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them…Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”. (I Thessalonians 4:14, 16-18)

Easter affirms what we United Methodists say in our service of word and table: Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. That is a reminder that, though we live “in between” birth and death, great challenge and final vindication, or trial and triumph, the Resurrection Faith gives us assurance that Good Friday always leads to Easter Sunday.

I hope that each disciple at least once on that dark Saturday, clung to Jesus’ words on Thursday night, “Do not let your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me.” Whatever your circumstances, regardless how much living in the “in between” is a struggle for you, remember that Easter is around the corner, and that God calls us to live as faithful followers of Jesus. May we therefore live the life of faith, love, hope, forgiveness, trust, generosity, and service each day we spend in between.

The Reverend Dr. David Comperry
Field Staff Representative