It’s Good Friday and what’s been on my mind a whole lot is actually the death of my friends’ son, who was killed in an accident earlier this week. It’s been heartbreaking, even as an outside observer. But what I’ve also seen in the midst of their grief has been a persistent hope, a confidence that they will see their son again. And the only reason they can have that precious hope to cling to is because of Jesus, who died but didn’t stay dead, and whose resurrection is the source of our hope that death isn’t the end for us, either.
Heaven is a pleasant idea when things are going well. Kind of like a bucket list vacation spot. But when someone you love dies and heaven is the only way you’ll be together again, heaven becomes a very sweet promise indeed. I have seen the Lord use the intense process of grief to wean us of our love for this world and sharpen our longing for heaven. We mourn, but our mourning is saturated with hope.
So on this Good Friday, when it feels like an immovable stone has been rolled into place and the door is shut forever, may the silver-edged light of Easter morning lead us through the darkness of grief with this encouraging reminder – “Death has been swallowed up in victory!” (1 Corinthians 15:54)