So the past three months have been particularly difficult for me. I can't go into the reasons right at this moment, but my relationship with Jesus has been critical to my emotional health. He has been extremely close, in a more intimate way than I've ever experienced.
Because of that renewed closeness, Good Friday was different this year than it has ever been before. Somehow I knew that I wouldn't have the same closeness of Christ between Good Friday and Easter morning. I attended the Good Friday service at Imago Dei, and felt the violence and despair of the Crucifixion in a way I had never felt it before.
I began to realize in a new way the gift of the resurrection. The disciples and the women in Jesus' "posse" didn't understand His promise of resurrection, and I felt a tiny piece of that despair they must have felt.
Can we imagine, though, if Jesus hadn't risen from the dead? I cannot imagine the burden of being responsible for Jesus death through my sin, but also being responsible for the absence of His presence in my life and in the world. Talk about despair!
I realize this year, more than any other year, what a gift the resurrection is. What love and mercy our Father has given us, to give us the gift of salvation and redemption as well as then giving us the gift of Jesus' resurrection. The resurrection wasn't for Jesus, although nothing could have power over him, the resurrection was for me.
Thank God for Resurrection
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