On Good Friday, Jesus hung on the cross; blood dripping from the places where he was nailed to the cross. His mourning mother looking on as he took his final breath. The final breath lingered in the air as the crowd stood looking upon their beloved Jesus. The darkness of the night encapsulated all as they grieved.
After awhile, they carefully took down Jesus’ body and wrapped him in burial clothes. They carried him to the tomb where they placed him. Like the manger, where the new born baby was wrapped in swaddling clothes, this 30 year old son now too was laid to rest; the tomb; his perceived final resting place.
Three days later, the women came to the tomb. The stench of death should have suffocated these women as they went to open the tomb. But there was no stench and the tomb was empty. The stone had been rolled away. Jesus was risen. God had shown God’s power and that life not death and light not darkness had the final word.
This is a promise that we all want to cling too. But sometimes life throws us things we don’t understand. A person is stricken with an illness and there seem to be no answers in sight. Or a transition comes about that we never expected. Whatever the reason, life has this way of throwing obstacles at us; obstacles that we so desperately search to understand in the midst of life’s joys and sorrows.
In the past weeks, I have sat and listened to the hum of the machines in an ICU; noises that permeate the loudness and darkness of the world. I have prayed and prayed, with what seems to be no avail, to give friends and family hope in the midst of their own darkness, anxiety and sorrows. I have wiped tears away as friends and family have grieved.
And as I have listened to the silence of the machines or watched my friends/family seeking to feel better and to see the light again, I have also wondered where the hope of the resurrection promise is. I find myself desperately seeking those resurrection moments in my every day life.
Resurrection is the promise that life not death and light not darkness will have the final word. But in this broken world, it can be almost impossible, at times, to see life being born out of death; to see light being born out of darkness. Because dead people are not suppose to come back to life. Death is a permanent part of life.
Yet it is in Jesus’ death, a death that was brought about by the emperor that we find ourselves clinging to the very cross that Jesus hung on. With my hands curled tightly around the cross, I don’t want to let go. Yet in letting go, God reminds us that we are never alone; that God will never leave us or forsake us. God loves us that much.
The reality of life is that every day, a new baby lets out their first breathe while another soul takes their final breathe. The circle of life encompasses life and death, light and darkness, joy and sorrow. And in each of those moments, God’s love runs through the courses of our veins.
In the beating of our hearts, through the blood coursing through our veins and through every breathe, I continually find myself clinging to the promises found in the book of Romans. For me, it is these words that remind me of Easter, the resurrection promise and that we are never alone. And it is because of this promise, that I will do my very best to never leave anyone behind.
“If we live, we live to the Lord. If we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lords.”–Romans 14:8
Linking up with these lovely ladies–Holly and Testimony Tuesday, Kelly and the Ra Ra linkup, Jennifer and Tell His Story, Holley and Coffee for your Heart and Kristin and Porch Stories.
