“It’s Friday…but Sunday’s coming!” Sociologist, Pastor, and author Tony Campolo, made that statement classic years ago. It’s still true. We have all succumbed to Friday’s that are dark. Friday is the call from your best friend who tells you her husband left her. Friday is the encounter with the CFO who said “You are not a good fit.” Friday is the Oncologist stating: “Your Ovarian Cancer has spread to other organs.” Lauren Daigle, sings about the darkest Friday:

“Out of the shadows, bound for the gallows, a dead man walking ‘til love came calling, Rise up, Rise up. Six feet under, I thought it was over. An answer to prayer, the voice of a Savior, Rise up, Rise up…”

A wealthy man, by the name of Joseph, also thought it was over. Listen to Matthew:

                  “As evening approached, Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea,   

                    who had become a follower of Jesus, went to Pilate and asked 

                    for Jesus’ body. And Pilate issued an order to release it to him.

                    Joseph  took the body and wrapped it in a long sheet of clean      

                    linen cloth. He placed it in his own new tomb, which had been 

                    carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the

                    entrance and left.”(Matthew 27:57-60, NLT)

The governor, the soldiers, the religious priests and elders went a step further to make sure it was really over. They wanted Jesus’ death and burial signed, sealed, delivered. Matthew also details their actions to accomplish just that:

                     “The next day, on the Sabbath, the leading priests and Pharisees

                       went to see Pilate. They told him, “Sir, we remember what that

                       deceiver once said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I

                       will rise from the dead.’ So we request that you seal the tomb

                       until the third day. This will prevent his disciples from coming

                       and stealing his body and then telling everyone he was raised

                       from the dead! If that happens, we’ll be worse off than we were

                       at first.” Pilate replied, “Take guards and secure it the best you

                       can.” So they sealed the tomb and posted guards to protect it.”

                       (27:63-66)

Jesus’ tomb was closed, sealed and guarded. In their planning, they forgot about…God. “It’s Friday…but Sunday’s coming!” Daigle continues singing:

“All at once I came alive. This beating heart. These open eyes. The grave let go. The darkness should have known, You’re still rolling stones, You’re still rolling stones.

I thought that I was too far gone for everything I’ve done wrong. Yeah I’m the one who dug this grave. But You called my name, You called my name…”

From Max Lucado’s He Still Moves Stones, he writes:

                          “He comes into your world. He comes to do what

                            you can’t. He comes to move the stones you can’t

                            budge. Stones are no match for God. Not then  

                            and not now.”

Is there something you keep clenching your hand around, you need to let go and let God move?

 

pictures courtesy of Pexels and “Nelson & his Nikon”