As a college student, I volunteered at a suicide prevention hotline and on Good Friday that year, we got a call from a weeping student. She was inconsolable to the point of not being able to talk, but once she calmed a bit, I heard her say, “I can’t believe that Jesus is dead.”
Me: ?
Caller: I can’t believe he was killed this way. I never thought it would happen.
Me: (in my head) Is this some kind of joke?
Me: (not trying to be funny, but not sure what else to say) If you could just hang on for a couple more days, everything’s going to be alright. If you can just hang on until Sunday.
What a different a few days can make.
For those of you who are overwhelmed this week, for those who feel like you’re are drowning in grief, for those overcome with cynicism in this broken world . . . hang on. Even in our darkest days, there is hope.
Our God knows what it’s like to be betrayed, to be tortured, to be killed by those in power. Our God knows what it’s like to lose a child. Our God knows what it’s like to be a disappointed human being.
Can we hang on for a little while longer? Healing is promised. Resurrection is coming. But first – yes – we feel like weeping inconsolably. Evil is real.
A Church for Starving Artists 