Saturdays Suck!

Every year on Good Friday Christians gather to remember the day Christ was crucified. It is a day of great sorrow and pain. A day the world was cast into darkness and all hope was lost. A day of great mourning.

But Friday is not the end.

On Easter Sunday we gather again, but this time to celebrate. To rejoice in the hope that Christ is risen. It is a day of great joy and praise and wonder for the marvelous gift of grace!

But then there is Saturday. The day without a name.

The day after a prayer gets prayed, but before it gets answered. The day after a soul gets crushed, but before it gets lifted up again. The day in-between. In between despair and joy. In between hate and love. In between death and life.

And here’s the thing – we live in a Saturday world.

So often in life we find ourselves in that space in between. In between utter confusion and blinding clarity. In between bad news and good news. In between loneliness and companionship. In between who we are and who we hope to be.

And the biggest problem with Saturday is that when you’re in it, you have no idea that Sunday is even coming. When Jesus died, the disciples were scared and confused. In their minds Jesus had failed. All hope was lost. It was over. When you find yourself in a Saturday, it’s easy to think it will last forever.

So why does God make us wait? Why can’t we just go from Friday to Sunday?

Well, I think it’s got something to do with the fact that it is on Saturday that we draw closest to God. It is on Saturday that we fall to our knees and cry out to Him. And it is on Saturday that we most realise our need for Him.

And the reality is that Sunday will eventually come. When and how we don’t know. But it will come, and the tears will be wiped away, and the suffering we’ve experienced will suddenly make sense.

So, what day are you in right now? Friday, Saturday or Sunday?

Inspiration for this blog came from a sermon series by John Ortberg entitled “Friday, Saturday, Sunday”