I'm sorry for not posting sooner. Our family has spent most of today at church. This morning, we were preparing for our Walk Through Jerusalem experience tomorrow. My husband is playing "Shadow Jesus"--that's Jesus on the Cross in shadow--and I'm helping out. Then tonight I sang at our Good Friday Service of the Nails, where we heard graphic details of what Jesus' last week on earth might have been like.
All these activities have put Jesus' suffering and sacrifice in the forefront of my mind. It's hard to comprehend celebrating in someone's suffering, and yet we can celebrate Good Friday (yes, it is GOOD!) because we know that Sunday is just around the corner. I hope you will indulge me while I share a new insight that came to me tonight.
I have long known that the Temple Veil--the one that separated us from the Holy of Holies--was ripped from top to bottom at the moment of Jesus' death. This literal event is ripe with symbolism, as it allowed us direct access to the presence of God. But only tonight did it strike me in a unique and clear way that this didn't happen after the Resurrection--it happened at the point of death. Now, I don't want to present skewed theology, but it occurred to me that perhaps we place a bit too much emphasis on the Resurrection. Hear me out: if the Veil was torn at the point of death, and if Jesus was the Ultimate Sacrifice--one that would prevent us from ever having to sacrifice another animal for our sin--then we had communion with the Father when Jesus died. In other words, it was the blood sacrifice of Jesus that makes an unholy people appear holy before our Heavenly Father.
I don't want to diminish the Resurrection. It's what we all wait for, right? But I think sometimes we try to rush through the pain to get to the celebration. All the while, we forget that it was Jesus' work on the Cross that frees us.
Thank you, dear reader, for allowing me to share my personal reflection. I promise to be back to "All Disney, All the Time" by Monday. If you happen to live in the Nashville area, please join us for Walk Through Jerusalem, Saturday from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at New Hope Community Church in Brentwood.
Isn't it wonderful to know that it's ALL Good, meaning Good Friday AND Easter Sunday!!:) I completely understood your post and I LOVE it when God gives us those moments of clarity regarding His Word!! I hope you had a glorious Good Friday and Easter Sunday. It's a wonderful thing to know that we serve a mighty God who sent His Son to die to save us and that the tomb was empty! Jesus is Risen indeed!!:) Thanks for your sharing your reflection.
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