My middle cluster/computer went out as of two days ago. It is now darkness in the middle. As I consider that darkness in the middle I can’t help but imagine what this day felt like to Jesus’ disciples. They were sandwiched in darkness between the cross and the redirection.

They had committed themselves to the teachings of their Messiah. They had devoted themselves to following Him, to living His way. 

Now here they were, on what was likely the darkest day of their lives. All they had hoped for and believed in hung on a cross and then lay quiet, and still, in a tomb. 

No doubt an epic battle raged within them between the pain of yesterday and the hope of tomorrow. They were left with the ultimate decision, were they to continue in what they believed, or return to what they used to know in their lives? 

We may face that same battle within our own lives. Between the pain of the past and the hope of the future we wrestle with the choice; do I believe in the hope of tomorrow or do I die to the pain of yesterday? 

The beauty of our journey is that history did not stop in the quiet time between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. Hope prevailed. Life won. Jesus conquered the pain of Friday. 

Mark 16:6 shares “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.” 

In our lives we might be stuck in this ‘middle day’; but we can know that in the resurrection of Jesus, God won. We do not have to succumb to the pain of Friday and we can live in the hope…and now reality of Sunday.