It’s Saturday.  What a week it has been.

It is very dark in here, and a bit cool.  Not cold, just a bit

cool.  I think these linen cloths they wrapped my body in

keep it from being too cold.  You see, it was the day before

yesterday that I died, but you know that.  Are you

wondering how I can sense cool or cold?  Remember that I

have always existed, from before the beginning, and will

exist forever.  There are no blank spots in my existence, not

even when my body was dead and in this tomb.  I am the

Alpha and the Omega.  I have almost completed my work

here on earth.  I have suffered; I have died; and tomorrow

I will rise again.  I must remain in this dark tomb three

nights.

Tomorrow morning when Mary Magdalene and the other

Mary come to anoint my body, they will find it is not here,

but I will have someone explain it to them.

I have cried a lot in the past few hours, not because of my

circumstances, but because of yours.  You see, I have done

what was required of me, and I did it to save you.  To my

sadness, there are many of you who still won’t acknowledge

me.  Even after all I have done for you, because of my love

for you.

The day before yesterday,  I cried out “My God, my God,

why have you forsaken me?”  But I know why; it was for

you—because of my love for you.  So now I ask you—why are

you forsaking me?  I love you—please come to me.

Oh, yes, what a week it has been.  It was just last Sunday

that I arrived in Jerusalem.  I entered the town on a donkey

amidst shouts of “Hosanna to the Son of David, the King of

Israel.  Bless is he who comes in the name of the Lord” from

an enthusiastic welcoming crowd.  It was only a short time

later the same crowd was yelling “Crucify him!”, but that did

not stop me from loving them.  They did not know what they

were doing.

On Monday, there was a little incident at the temple.  When

I got there, merchants were buying and selling doves and

other things, and money changers were profiting from a

very active trade.  They had turned my house into a den of

robbers!  How dare they!  My house is to be a house of

prayer.  

So, I turned over their tables and drove them from the temple. 

  What else could I do?  They had created an

environment of stealing instead of healing.  It could not be

tolerated.

Tuesday was a little better.  I was able to spend some time

teaching at the temple.  But even while doing so, my

authority was questioned.  Later in the day I went to the

home of Simon the Leper.  A woman there named Mary

poured some nice perfume on my head, and then poured the

nard on my feet and wiped my feet with her hair.  She really

didn’t know it but she was preparing my body for burial.

Wednesday is the day that the plot against me began to

take shape.  Judas went to the chief priests and asked them

what they would  give him if he would hand me over to them.

They gave him thirty silver coins.

Later that evening I enjoyed a  pre-Passover dinner in a

large upper room with my disciples.  I let Judas know that I

knew he would betray me.  He denied it, but we know the

truth, don’t we?  During the meal I taught the disciples

about the new covenant and how to stay in communion with

me with bread and wine.  The bread is my body, and the wine

is my blood—poured out for you.

Later in the day we went to Gethsemane because I wanted to

pray.  I was very distressed and troubled.  My soul was

overwhelmed with sorrow.  I fell to the ground in prayer and

asked the Father to take this cup from me if it was

possible, but I knew it wasn’t possible, and I wept.  Sweat

that was like blood dripped from my body.  I was in torment,

but I understood my mission; a mission of love.  A mission of

salvation.

On Passover Thursday (you call it Good Friday) was the

worst!  First I was arrested, then a trial that was nothing

more than a mock trial.  After it ended, I was flogged and

handed over to be crucified.  What do you know about

flogging?  Do you know that it is done with a leather whip

with multiple ends, and that there are sharp pieces of bone

and metal in each end?  Do you know that it leaves the back

raw and bleeding, and sometimes exposes bones and organs?

Do you know that sometimes it actually causes death?  Did

you know that?  I endured that for you—because I love you.

And do you want to know something else?  I would do it

again—for you.

After they were done flogging me, they made me carry the

cross they were to crucify me on, up the hill to Golgotha.

People spit on me and mocked me.  They hung me on that

cross between two robbers.  They pierced my side with a

spear.  I died on that cross just at the time when the

Passover lambs were being killed (Did you ever think about

that and why? - It's because I AM the Passover Lamb.) 

  I won’t tell you how horrible death on a

Roman cross is, but you ought to know they came up with

this method of execution because it is the most painful

death imaginable.  My mother was a witness.  It is finished.

In just a few hours I will leave this tomb, and my mission

here will be finished but I will be with you always—until the

end.  My beloved, I tell you the truth—I did it for you.  You

and your salvation.  Yet, I weep because some among you

won’t acknowledge me.  Some among you won’t listen to what

I say when I say “knock and the door will be opened.”  I love

you so much that I want you to spend eternity with me in

paradise.

Won’t you accept my invitation?  Won’t you let me live in

you?  Won’t you experience the joy of real life?

Christ is Risen!