Easter meditation.

On driving to church Easter morning, I was meditating on what Christ has done for us on the cross.  I thought through the crucifixion, saw him hanging on the tree, adjusted his appearance so he looked more Mediterranean and less northern European, watched him lay in the tomb, and then got ready to watch him rise. 

And the thought came to me that nowhere in my meditation was Christ dead.  He was in the tomb, but I just couldn't process the reality of death.   It was more like he went into some sort of stasis, or maybe he was just holding his breath.  That's a dreadfully unorthodox way to look at Easter.  The committing of his spirit, the breathing his last, the blood and the water -- the Bible goes out of its way to make plain that Christ was dead.  Dead as a doornail.  Dead as anyone else in history.  Empty body.  The spirit flown.  Dead. 

His disciples certainly knew he was dead.  They were shaken to the core.  Joseph of Arimathea took down his limp, cold frame and put it in a tomb.  If he had had the least hope, wouldn't he have gone to a physician?  No, he was dead.

The reason I couldn't picture him dead was because I knew that he would get up again.  That seemed to make it all go away.  It made the period of death impossible.  I knew all along that he was going to get up and come out.  And as I thought about that, I said to God, "You knew all along too, didn't you?" 

Well, yes, thank you, Captain Obvious.  But it was comforting and awe-inspiring to think that God was always prepared to bring the obedient Jesus back from the dead.  Just biding his time, so to speak.  We hear so much about how God turned his face away that Friday night that it's easy to forget that this was all part of his plan from the moment sin birthed its ugly face into the world. 

At that point in the morning, I was content to just rest in the awesomeness of God's knowing, but this afternoon, as I ponder some more, I'm hit with the reflection that God's knowing didn't make the evil or the pain go away.  Jesus was still dead for those three days.   The disciples were still in danger.  Was God going to let the plan derail?  No.  But it still hurt. 

The same is true for us.  A lot of us are feeling uncertain about where our country is headed.  Christians in other parts of the world expect to die at any minute.  We may have personal griefs and uncertainties that feel like an infinite day of mourning.  We don't know how or when it all will end.  But God knows, and he has known all along.  This has been part of his plan from the beginning for our refinement, for our glorification as his sons.  And someday, we'll look at him and say, "You really had it in your hands all along, didn't you."