This morning, just before light, I glanced out the window and saw this. It looks like the sun, doesn’t it? But it isn’t. It’s the setting moon.

A moon as bright as the sun.

I wonder, was it this bright on that Friday morning when Jesus was awaiting trial?

I walked the paths that Jesus and his disciples walked two thousand years ago. Most moving to me was visiting the Garden, where Jesus sweat drops of blood. Another, the place where Jesus was held between trials. It was cold down there as we sat and contemplated what it might have been. There were dim lights when we were there, but I’m pretty sure it was dark that night.

I’m sure you’ve all experienced a bad day. Sometimes worse than other days. I can think of some terrible ones in my lifetime and I’m sure you can too. But as bad as those days were for us: cancer diagnosis, death of a loved one, loss of a job, pain that will not quit…I could go on, but you get the idea.

It was bad enough Jesus was unjustly arrested and tried illegally. It was bad enough when they beat Him nearly to death, then made Him carry the cross, put a crown of thorns on His head. That is terrible. The indignity. The injustice. The rejection. But the worst? His bearing the sins of the world. Past, present, and future.

You know how you feel when some terrible tragedy happens. Like the devastating fire nearly destroying the beautiful  Notre Dam Cathedral. It might be a crime. Mass murder. Tornado or hurricane that levels a city. When I hear about it, I have a heavy, weight on my inner being. Those feelings we experience  are nothing compared what Jesus experienced, carrying the weight of everyone’s sins–yours and mine included.

As we work through this day with the busyness of the weekend, I hope you will think about what He did for us.

And since I won’t post until next Friday, I have to finish with the joy and miracle of Easter Sunday–the empty tomb! He is risen!

I love lilies. And especially these…..

A good, good Friday to you all because today’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming!