Easter weekend is one of the most important times of the year for Christians. We take time during Holy Week to consider Jesus’ journey to the cross thoughtfully and prayerfully. Palm Sunday, a heart-wrenching beginning masked as a victorious entry. His sermons in the temple. Mary anointing His feet. The Last Supper and some of His greatest teachings to His disciples, as written in John. His service to them, washing their feet.

Then, Good Friday.

Good Friday certainly is good. Because of Good Friday, we have Resurrection Sunday. If we hadn’t had Good Friday, we’d still be hopelessly lost.

But I doubt Good Friday felt very good.

Sometimes, I get confused and call Good Friday Black Friday (confession of an American here). But even though that is a mistake, the term sticks. On Good Friday, the earth went dark as God’s Son was separated from the Father. Tombs split open, the ground shook, the temple curtain was torn in two. These signs were the beginning of our open access to God because of Christ, but that’s exactly what they were – beginning signs. The story wasn’t over. The grief hadn’t passed – it had only just begun.

We can’t rush past the full tomb moments, the in-between moments, the seasons laden with questioning.

Earlier in Jesus’ ministry, there was another full tomb – Lazarus’ tomb.

In the spring of 2022, I spent a great deal of time in the book of John. During my second time through the book, I was deeply struck by the following words in John 11: “ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go back to Judea.’”

These words seem incongruous to me. Jesus loved these people dearly, as evidenced by His grief later in the chapter. But because He loved them . . . He waited two days to get to them in their time of need.

Why does He wait to come to us? Why doesn’t He come right away?

As I was reading this passage, I was personally still deeply in the center of my health journey. I was crying out to God, telling Him that it was time for a breakthrough – something has to break. But when I read this passage, I felt His Spirit impress on my spirit that there was something He was doing that was greater than I could understand.

Jesus didn’t want to heal Lazarus – He wanted to resurrect Him. That was a critical part of His ministry.

But this plan of God’s meant that Mary and Martha spent days with Lazarus in the tomb. The tomb was full, not empty, and it would have been completely impossible for them to believe that the story would end any other way. The tomb was full. It would stay that way, because that’s what tombs do.

Tombs are where dreams go to die. Tombs are where healing remains locked up and out of reach. Tombs are where brokenness feels inescapable, where the hurts of this life reside.

Sometimes, it feels like we’re stuck in a tomb.

When I felt the Spirit speak to me back in May, I knew He was telling me that there was a story He was writing that was greater than just me. There was a work that He wanted to do in me that would reach beyond my own needs and into the lives of others. I sensed Him say, “get through the summer, and things are going to change.”

It was on July 31st that I first met with my psychiatrist and began new layers of healing. The journey wasn’t over, but He was leading me into a new phase. I could see the tomb start to open. I could sense even more what He was doing.

My tomb still isn’t empty. The healing still isn’t complete. I imagine there is something in your life that feels the same way – broken, lost, out of reach. In those moments, we feel hopeless, helpless – and abandoned. Why won’t you come to me, Jesus? Why are you waiting?

He waited because He loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. He’s waiting because He loves us. I also believe that when He waits, He waits because He is entrusting us. He is giving us space to trust Him and to trust what He is doing in and through our stories.

The phrase “if it’s not good, God’s not done” is a popular one right now. And while I firmly believe that sometimes we may never understand what God is doing, I do believe that He who is faithful will bring to completion what He began in us (Phil. 1:6). I am confident that we will see His goodness in the land of the living (Ps. 27:13). Resurrection Sunday is proof of that.

Sunday’s coming, friends. I don’t know what is in your tomb, but I can guarantee you that the promise of resurrection still stands. God is capable, God is willing, and God loves you – He won’t leave your tomb full.

What’s so good about Good Friday?

Sunday is always coming.