A Day of Waiting

His friends took the crucified Jesus and laid him in a borrowed tomb.  Well, some of his friends.  Others were in hiding.  Some of them clung to the hope that Jesus was not really dead, while others suddenly doubted every thing he had ever told them.  The disciples gathered to figure out what to do next. I would imagine that they sat around and told stories of Jesus.  They wondered what it had all been for.  It was clear there would be no political revolution.  It must have seemed obvious to them that they would soon return to the same powerless lives they had been living before they heard the words, "Follow me."  There was no doubt much discussion about what Jesus really meant when he said he was come back in three days.  They didn't realize that when he said, "It is finished" from the cross he didn't mean his life, he meant his mission.  There would be no more gap between God and man.  His work was done.  As usual, they were slow to get what Jesus meant, and certainly Thomas was not the only one who doubted.  But mostly, on that second day so many years ago, they waited. To be arrested, to discover truth, to learn what was next.  But they waited.

And today we wait- but it's totally different.  We wait with the full knowledge that tomorrow we will celebrate the single greatest event in the history of our world.  We wait knowing that Jesus is alive, that he took our sins, conquered death and rose to walk among the living once again.  So while the disciples waited in a room filled with despair and doubt, we wait with party hats on.  We already know what tomorrow holds.  So don't hold back.  In fact, don't even feel like you have to wait.  Go ahead and jump the gun and start celebrating right now.  The game has already been played, and ladies and gentlemen we have a winner.  "Death is ended; it's swallowed up in victory!"  God wins!  Jesus lives!  Let the celebration begin!!!

He Is Risen!!!