Today is the most Solemn Day of the Year

Last night Diane and I hosted the Passover meal, a sweet time of fellowship around remembering Jesus’ last Passover with His disciples. Rather than celebrating it when the Jews observe their Passover on the 14th or 15th of the month Nisan, this year I decided to observe it on the correct weekday (Thursday night) in order to keep the focus on the sequence of Jesus’ passion week.

As I am typing this, around 8:30am Friday morning, I am reminded that about this time Jesus was carrying His cross towards Calvary. Around 9:00am He was being nailed to that cross. And from then until about 3:00 pm, He was in agony bearing the pain and the weight of our sins. At about 3:00pm, He said “It is finished” and breathed His last breath as a mortal. Then He was taken down and hastily prepared for burial, because the Sabbath would begin at sunset.

While the rest of the world goes about its business with hardly a thought about Jesus and His sacrifice, I want to keep my thoughts today on how He suffered for my sins. I can’t help but think of Jesus’ words to His disciples as He was agonizing in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Then He came to the disciples and found them asleep, and said to Peter, “What? Could you not watch with Me one hour?“ (Matt. 26:40 NKJ)

Tomorrow, the Sabbath, I want to dwell on the fact that He “rested” on the Sabbath in that tomb. On Sunday, the day of “First-fruits,” I want to rejoice in the fact that He came out of that tomb, victorious over death, as “the First-fruits” of those who sleep. Our HOPE of immortality is bound up entirely in what Jesus did during these three days nearly 2000 years ago. The very least we can do is pause to remember and give thanks to God for His unspeakable gift.