Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.   Mark 15:15

During Holy Week, Christians around the world pause to reflect on the sacrifice and to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Individual churches have their own traditions and unique ways to mark the end of the Lenten season and transition from the darkness encapsulating Christ on Good Friday into the light and hope of His resurrection Sunday. 

This year our church is offering something new to me – The Stations of the Cross*. We are invited to visit the church this week to meditate and pray as we move through each of the stations. This devotional journey depicts the final days of Jesus on earth, from His betrayal and condemnation to His crucifixion and burial. 

Reflecting on each stop along the way from the Garden of Gethsemane to Golgotha to the tomb, I am reminded of Christ’s real-life journey. Sometimes we are inclined to consider His life and sum it up as a miraculous birth in a manger, a sacrifice of love on the cross, and the promise of eternal life through his resurrection. How often do we stop to ponder the other moments that are part of the whole story? Not often enough – or at least I haven’t.

This week is a reminder of the human suffering Christ endured. He was betrayed by those closest to Him. He was wrongly accused. He was publicly humiliated. He was physically battered and beaten. He was ridiculed. He was stripped bare for all to see. 

Jesus was the only perfect man, our Redeemer; however, he was also a man of great sorrow. If we skip from Palm Sunday to Easter morning without considering the anguish of the in between, we’ve missed so much. 

No one can clearly understand the power of the resurrection without learning what He went through to get there. He experienced the unimaginable to take on the sins of mankind. He became truly human, relatable. We know no pain greater than that experienced by our Savior. 

Similarly, we may not or cannot clearly understand the dark times in our own lives or the challenges along the way until we, too, are resurrected to live life eternal with our Lord and Savior. 

Parents can feel like their children will never understand their sacrifices. Not so with God, our Father. The sacrifice made for you and for me is visible, in detail. Don’t miss the message of Holy Week. Stop. Reflect. Meditate. Pray. Make His pain your pain. Only then, can we reap the genuine joy coming with the dawn of Easter morn. A true celebration of a life of love, sacrifice, and resurrection. The whole story. The complete picture.

Also be reminded that we all have a full story. Our lives aren’t defined by just a couple of moments of great pain or instance of great joy. We must put it all together to get the full picture. His story continues and so does ours. Take comfort in knowing whatever you are experiencing, He has too. He walked the road before us and will walk alongside each of us.

There is no good without grief, no pleasure without pain, no darkness without light, no life without death. 

As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.    Matthew 27:57-60

It is always darkest just before the dawn …

*Learn more about the Stations of the Cross (also, Scriptures of the Cross) online – how they evolved and the variations. “Tradition holds that Mary, the mother of Jesus, set up stone markers at her home outside Jerusalem to prayerfully retrace the steps of her son’s Passion, but the origin of the devotion in its present form is not clear.” https://www.britannica.com/topic/Stations-of-the-Cross