Mourning Good Friday

Suggested reading for reflection: Luke 23:26-56, Matthew 27:27-31

I was sitting in the kitchen with my 4-year old daughter this week, talking to her about the significance of Holy Week. When we got to the concept of Jesus' death, she froze.

"Wait. Jesus died? So he doesn't live in my heart anymore?"

She was devastated. Why did he die? My daughter is too young to understand the full scope of sin. She simply can't get past the grief of losing what she loves so much. In Matthew 18, Jesus instructs us to "become like children" to enter the kingdom of heaven. There are many ways to interpret this instruction, but maybe part of that involves affection.

Do we love Jesus enough to mourn his loss? Or do we skip over Good Friday and the idea of crucifixion because we know Sunday is coming? I'm guilty of forgetting what today really means in light of the celebration I anticipate. But what would today look like if I simply sat in my affection for Jesus and imagined for a moment what that loss was like in real time? For Mary. For the disciples. For all of humanity. The ultimate darkness devoid of hope descending on the earth as the most dearly loved slipped away in agony. The pinnacle of goodness being ripped away from us and realizing that it, in fact, was our own doing.

It's too much. Yet it's important to go there mentally to remind ourselves that without Good Friday, the ultimate loss, there is no victory. My prayer is that I love Jesus enough to stop and mourn his loss as deeply as my daughter did. How joyful the celebration will be on Sunday.