The In-Between
Today is Saturday. Between Good Friday and Resurrection (Easter) Sunday.
What do we do with today?
It is sometimes referred to as the “in-between” day.
How powerful this day is. When you stop and think about it.
I’ve been depressed before. Like deep dark hole depressed. I don’t even think that comes close to the feelings of the people closest to Jesus. The Human One.
THAT!
HUMAN!
HE DIED!
“Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.”
Luke 23:53 NIV
It was final.
Jesus died. A human death. A painful one at that. Excruciating. And his friends and family watched and wept as their son, brother, counselor, confidant, rabbi, teacher, messiah breathed his last breath.
I don’t know if depressed is the word. Shocked. Heartache. Inconsolable. Agony. Emptiness. There is a few. I’ve looked up words and I don’t even know that one can put that kind of emotion into a strong enough word.
Matt Davis said it like this,
“There is something about waiting. Something about the in between. It feels hopeless, like Egypt is too far gone and the Promised Land too far away.”
https://www.instagram.com/thejewishroad/
A friend of mine has been in the in-between for some time now. A past life went terribly wrong. Broken relationships, broken hearts and a broken life. But during this time he’s embraced this motto of “say yes.” This in-between part of his life has been just filled with Jesus moving. He says yes and God blesses. He opens doors and God blesses. He talks about his story and his faith and God blesses. In any way you can imagine, God blesses. But the consequences of his previous life still loom. The in-between, even tho has an incredible story with incredible blessings, still bears an unbelievable truth that it’s not over. The pain isn’t done.
“My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long?”
Psalms 6:3 NIV
Today is a day of reflection that no matter how dark the day is, there is light. The story we know from Luke and John and other Gospel stories is that Jesus lives. The Human one rose again. He conquered the unconquerable. And so it is with this this we should find so much joy even in our darkness.
“He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears.“
Isaiah 25:8 NLT
I’m sure that today someone is reading this, needing this even and sees themselves in this in-between. Be encouraged today that you are not alone. We all have this as part of our stories.
Remember tho…
“that the Son of Man…that he would rise again on the third day.”
Luke 24:7 NLT
This is good news.
That your story doesn’t end.
My friend would tell you that the in-between has given him the greatest life, with the greatest story and the greatest impact. Is he ready to face the music and the consequences of his actions? No. Will he ever be? No. But he knows that there is a resurrection day.