Good Friday Meditation
Mark 15:33
And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
One of my top songs for 2023 on Spotify was “Lights Gone Out” by Taylor Leonhardt. In it, she vividly describes spiritual distress and asks herself an important question, “What will I do now/That all the lights gone out?” She doesn’t answer the question but invites the listener to grapple with it alongside her. She wasn’t writing about Good Friday, but she could have been.
Good Friday was certainly a day when all the “lights gone out.” In fact, the Light went out so darkly, it was not expected to shine ever again. Jesus was crucified.
God was dead.
In the wake of the crucifixion, Jesus’ disciples were grieving their beloved Rabbi and attempting to process His death. Despite Jesus’ repeated predictions about His death, His horrific crucifixion left them bewildered. This was not the Messiah they expected. When the Light went out, Peter denied Him 3 times and all the disciples except John abandoned Him. All 11 of them forgot His promises to rise again.
When all the lights go out,
We have a choice to make
We can abandon our faith,
Forget God’s promises
Or…
We can wait