(for someone who asked for “that Saturday thing”)
Think of all of the sources of grief in life. Some of them have to do with things. But the ones that hurt the most? The ones that involve people.
Whether it’s death, divorce, betrayal, abandonment, it really boils down to the loss of a relationship. Whether it’s the end of something genuine, or the realization that someone wasn’t who we thought they were. The things that hurt the most involve the loss of a relationship.
Because those losses hurt us so deeply, it’s easy, kind of natural, to think that we’ll always feel that way. That we’ll always be grieving.
In the Gospel, Jesus tells the Apostles about His own impending death. Jesus is very blunt about what His death is going to do to them – “You will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices.”
If you were trying to pick a way to make something hurt even more, this would be it. Having other people rejoice at your loss.
But Jesus tells them something else – “You will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”
Even though it hurts. Even though people are trying to make it hurt even more. It won’t always be that way. Grief will end. And it will end in joy.
Jesus is telling the Apostles how grief will work for them with His own death and resurrection. But Jesus is also telling us how grief will work in our lives. That we will have grief. But that grief is not eternal. That if we draw close to God, God will replace our grief with joy.
That can be hard to see when you’re in the middle of grieving a loss.
On the Saturday morning after the Crucifixion, the Apostles weren’t saying to themselves “I can’t wait until Jesus comes back tomorrow.” That Saturday, the Apostles had no idea about Sunday.
Even though Jesus told them what would happen? Yes. They were too lost in their grief to remember any of that.
We’re no different. When you and I are in the middle of grieving a loss, it’s easy, kind of natural, to think that we’ll always feel that way. That we’ll always be grieving.
Thank God we’re wrong. Grief is unavoidable. But it’s not permanent.
It can be hard to see that while we’re lost in grief on Saturday. But the truth is that God has already prepared a Sunday of joy to follow our Saturday of grief.
Stay in faith. Saturday’s almost over.
Draw close to God. He’ll bring you through to Sunday.
“You will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”
