Living a string of Saturdays

Have you ever met someone and their pain is palpable?  It only takes a few seconds of talking with them, and you can quickly assess that hope, dreams, and a sense of purpose are things of the past for this person.  For some they attempt to leave this type of person as quickly as possible, it is indeed painful to sit with them.  I suspect that Jerusalem was a city filled with people whose pain you could feel on Saturday.  Their hope was in a tomb, their purpose had been challenged and it seemed as though it had been destroyed, the dreams they had were traumatically shattered.  Loss is a word far too small to express the devastation that they felt.  Questioning what went wrong only led to deeper pain.  This hope that they had ~ it was gone.  

And. Nothing. Could. Replace. It.  

The dreams of Messiah, Redeemer, Deliver, Reigning King – all was gone, horrifically destroyed.  Where do you turn when all hope is gone?  It is lonely in the darkness of a world without hope, there is no light offered by dreams of a better day.  So they hid, they retreated, they huddled together with few if any saying a word.  For those of us who sit here 2000 years later we want to shout to those who had lost all hope, "hang in there, one more day and you are going to see that the dreams and hopes you had were both real and you are going to experience in a way that we can only dream about."  In fact, sometimes when we meet the person who is experiencing Saturday, we do tell them to "get it together, there is hope!"  But until Sunday morning comes, until the person who is enduring Saturday actually sees the Savior face to face, and until they are lifted up by the Redeemer who endured Saturday in the most horrifically painful way, the hope of Sunday is not real, in fact it is not even a possibility. 

To all, who have been living Saturday over and over again, there is hope, Sunday is coming.  It is coming in a real way, the Savior is working to destroy Saturday's.  The Redeemer seeks to Redeem you and your Saturday!  The Deliver has demonstrated His power and He is poised and ready to deliver you from your Saturday.  The Messiah is here with us!

For those who have experienced Sunday, indeed take time to prepare for Sunday, it is a day of all that is new.  The rules of the past are set aside.  Hope is palpable, and redemption is possible on Sunday. 

For the Sunday folks who encounter a person living Saturday, hold on to hope for them.  Remember to keep this truth in the forefront of all conversations: Easter is a daily experience!    Help them to believe in their dreams and purpose again, the Redeemer makes Sunday mornings happen every day!  The Deliver seeks to come for the hurting every "Saturday."

Hope is on the way ~~  Happy Easter!