There’s an old song that goes something like “I May Be Just an Old Chunk of Coal (But I’m Gonna Be a Diamond Some Day).” That’s the story for all who follow Jesus. We may not look like much or amount to much in the world’s standards, but God thinks we are priceless and He’s making us into precious gems fit for a King.

“Dear Lord, risen Lord, light of the world, to you be all praise and glory! This day, so full of your presence, your joy, your peace, is indeed your day.

I just returned from a walk through the dark woods. It was cool and windy, but everything spoke of you. Everything: the clouds, the trees, the wet grass, the valley with its distant lights, the sound of the wind. They all spoke of your resurrection; they all made me aware that everything is indeed good. In you all is created good, and by you all creation is renewed and brought to an even greater glory than it possessed at its beginning.

As I walked through the dark woods at the end of this day, full of intimate joy, I heard you call Mary Magdalene by her name and heard how you called from the shore of the lake to your friends to throw out their nets. I also saw you entering the closed room where your disciples were gathered in fear. I saw you appearing on the mountain and at the outskirts of the village. How intimate these events really are. They are like special favors to dear friends. They were not done to impress or overwhelm anyone, but simply to show that your love is stronger than death.

O Lord, I know now that it is in silence, in a quiet moment, in a forgotten corner that you will meet me, call me by name and speak to me a word of peace. It is in my stillest hour that you become the risen Lord to me.

Dear Lord, I am so grateful for all you have given me this past week. Stay with me in the days to come. Bless all who suffer in this world and bring peace to your people, whom you loved so much that you gave your life for them. Amen” (Henri Nouwen, A Cry for Mercy: Prayers from the Genesee).

I’ve always wondered if there was a kind of observance for the Saturday that falls between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Is there some kind of liturgical tradition in the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox or Episcopalian churches? I’m asking not to make a point but because I really do not know.

I think it might be a good idea to have something like a Silent Saturday to reflect on what the disciples must have been going through after witnessing the events of Friday’s crucifixion, remembering Jesus’ words about all He would go through, and trying to process it all.

I imagine that even after all they had been through and all they had seen Jesus say and do, they were still at a loss. I would almost be willing to bet that they were in shock and numb, unable yet to grieve the incredible loss.

What kind of a service would even be appropriate for such a day? I realize that we have nothing in Scripture to indicate what happened between Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking Jesus body to be buried in an unused tomb and those events on early Sunday morning. Perhaps a day of introspection, prayer and silence would fit this day.

Again, any of you who are from different denominational backgrounds and know something can always chime in with their own experiences. I really would like to know. Maybe it’s too much to have Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Silent Saturday, and Easter Sunday.

It’s comforting to be able to be on this side of history and to anticipate the coming joy that Sunday will bring. Even on Saturday, we can still celebrate the inevitable victory of the cross and the resurrection, knowing that nothing from then on would ever be the same again.

I still think it seems ironic to call it Good Friday, considering what happened on this day. This was the day of ultimate suffering for Jesus. This was the day that seemed like anything but good when the disciples hid away in a locked room while Jesus’ body was taken down from the cross and buried in a tomb.

I remember when I was young reading about the arrest and trial of Jesus, and thinking how unfair it was that an innocent man went to His execution based on lies and greed. Part of me wanted Jesus to come off that cross and show them what’s what and to tell them all off for their hypocrisy and dishonesty.

But older me knows that if Jesus had indeed saved Himself, then the rest of us would still be lost. We’d still have no hope in this world and no hope of the next. We’d be just as dead in our sins as Jesus was at the end of Friday.

But Jesus suffered for our sakes. He stayed on that cross and finished His Father’s business that He had spoken of as a 12-year old. The words “It is finished” mean that we can look back and call it Good Friday — not because of what happened on that day but because of what came of it. Namely, an empty tomb and a risen Savior. But that came two days later. Stay tuned.

“What can we learn from Peter’s turning around? First, it was not Peter who turned. It was the Lord who turned and looked at Peter. When the cock crew, that might have kept Peter from falling further. But he was just in the very act of sin. And when a person is in the thick of his sin his last thought is to throw down his arms and repent. So Peter never thought of turning, but the Lord turned. And when Peter would rather have looked anywhere else than at the Lord, the Lord looked at Peter. This scarce-noticed fact is the only sermon needed to anyone who sins – that the Lord turns first” (Henry Drummond, The Ideal Life).

I don’t know about you, but I’m so thankful that God didn’t wait for us to get our collective act together before He sent Jesus. He didn’t wait for me to get my mess straightened out and my life in order before He set His affections on me. While we were sinners — not after — Christ died for us. As I’ve heard it before, God didn’t wait for us to figure out how to get to Him, but He found a way to come to us.

Easter is all about God so loving the world that He gave His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have full and abundant eternal life. I love Dallas Willard’s take on John 3:16:

“God’s care for humanity was so great that he sent his unique Son among us, so that those who count on him might not lead a futile and failing existence, but have the undying life of God Himself.” 

And that, folks, is what Easter is all about.

In case you needed a joke to brighten up your day, here’s one. Especially on a day like today with all the rain.

We are told to forgive. We are also told in the Lord’s prayer that God will forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. It’s not optional in the life of Abba’s children.

“But”, you say, “you don’t know what he said to me. You don’t know what she did to me.”

That’s right. I don’t know. No one else can truly know the wounds and hurt that you carry except for you and God. But God has set forgiving as the standard.

Is it easy? No. Is it possible? Yes, but only with God’s help and in God’s strength. Is there any other way? No.

Remember that Jesus forgave His murderers while they were in the very act of killing Him. That’s the ultimate impossible standard that only becomes possible when Jesus is living inside of you and me. Then we can forgive the unforgivable in others because we know we have been forgiven the unforgivable in ourselves by none other than God Himself.

It takes pride to hold a grudge. Anyone can do that. It takes humility to forgive. Not everyone will do that, but those who do choose the better way. They choose God’s way. Plus, in humility is liberty.

“Authority and obedience can never be divided, with some people having all the authority while others only have to obey. This separation causes authoritarian behaviour on the one side and doormat behaviour on the other. It perverts authority as well as obedience. A person with great authority who has nobody to be obedient to is in great spiritual danger. A very obedient person who has no authority over anyone is equally in danger.

Jesus spoke with great authority, but his whole life was complete obedience to his Father, and Jesus, who said to his Father, ‘Let it be as you, not I, would have it’ (Matthew 26:39), has been given all authority in heaven and on earth (see Matthew 28:18). Let us ask ourselves: Do we live our authority in obedience and do we live our obedience with authority?” (Henri Nouwen)

I know of too many examples where authority without obedience or accountability led to ruin. Too many times it has led into moral decay and spiritual drift. Obedience without discernment or authority has led to the perpetuation of abuses and power in places where Jesus said the first shall be last.

The authority is not to lord it over people but to serve them. The obedience is not a path leading to being a doormat but is the clearest picture of leadership as strength harnessed and under control like the bit in a horse’s mouth. Also, authority is never something we as believers should seek out but only receive with humility.

May we seek to both serve and lead well, to seek obedience and authority as two sides of the same coin. Above all, may we seek to be like Jesus, who thought equality with God wasn’t a thing to be grasped but made Himself nothing and emptied Himself to a slave’s death on a cross and by so doing took the name that is above every name and at which every knee will bow in heaven and on earth.

Today is when the Church celebrates the Sunday when Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey. Today we wave palm branches around and sing songs about Hosanna to the coming King, much like the people did on that day.

We in present day know what’s coming. We know that in five short days, Jesus will go from hero to accused. He will go from riding victoriously into Jerusalem to being led to a criminal’s execution outside the city. In five days, Jesus will be dead.

I also remember that when I was younger, I went to a youth conference led by a well-known speaker and author. He went into graphic detail about every step of the journey that took Jesus from the trials to the cross, including the whips, the crown of thorns, the robes, and every gory detail of what happened on that cross. Then he told us that it was us who killed Jesus. Specifically, it was our sin that killed Jesus. A lot of students made decisions for Jesus, and while some did it out of true faith, a lot did it out of guilt and manipulation.

I’ve heard a lot about who’s to blame for killing Jesus. Was it the Jewish leaders who demanded that He be crucified and Barabbas released? Was it it the Romans who actually nailed Jesus to the wooden cross? Was it you and me and our sin that put Jesus to death?

Ultimately, it wasn’t any of these who killed Jesus. It was Jesus who made the sacrifice and willingly gave up His life. In John 10:17-18. Jesus said, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

My sin didn’t have the power to kill Jesus. Neither did the Jewish leaders or the Romans. If Jesus had wanted to, He could have easily overcome all of them, but He chose the way of Calvary. He chose the whips and the crown of thorns and the nails. He chose it all for you and me.

It’s wasn’t sin that kept Jesus on that cross. It was love that held Him there. The cross wasn’t the result of defeat at the hands of the Jews or Romans. The cross was the ultimate victory that made it possible for you and I to know true and abiding life that lasts forever. While you do see in the book of Acts where Peter said that those Jewish leaders were responsible for Jesus being crucified, it was Jesus who allowed it to happen and who became the perfect Passover sacrifice, once and for all.

I honestly can’t think of any memes that are more accurate than this one. Coffee helps me stay awake and do all the adulting. Without coffee, I’m not responsible for any of my actions, which for me basically means I’d be at work slumped over my keyboard, fast asleep.

Even if the coffee I drink has lots of creamer and sugar in it, it also still has caffeine. That’s what I drink the coffee in the morning for. Also, when it’s cold out, I drink it for the warmth. But mostly for the caffeine.

So the moral of the story is this: hooray for coffee and caffeine!