How Can Death Be Good?
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?Why are you so far from saving me,so far from my cries of anguish?
These words were spoken by David, King of Israel, in the book of Psalms. They were echoed again by Jesus as he died on the cross.
I find the language comforting not because it erases any pain, but because it highlights the emotion we all feel when death surrounds us: hopelessness.
From commoners to Kings, from criminals to the Messiah, death is the unifying symptom of a broken world.
This week has been dark, rife with death and steeped in grief. And yet, precisely because of these events, celebrating Good Friday seems like a relief.
This is the day we remember that while death is out of place, unnatural, and unfair, it is inescapably true. What it is not, however, is hopeless.
Our feelings on the day of death aren't an indication of what's in our future.
Our future comes on the third day.
Our future is an empty tomb.
What begins in mourning ends in joy. Friday is not the end of the story.