Friday, March 29
It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’ Having said this, he breathed his last. –Luke 23:44-46
Today, on Good Friday, we tell a story of betrayal and loss, of suffering and pain, of the apparent defeat of the one who was supposed to save us. We name the reality that fear and hate are powerful forces in our world. Even as we take comfort in the knowledge that this story does not end with Jesus’ death, we struggle on Good Friday to find a sense of hope.
Throughout this Lenten season, we have reflected on hope as an active verb: hope that we choose, hope that we bring to fruition through our actions. Today, we reflect on hope as letting go, hope as faith that, somehow, God can hold what we cannot. “Into your hands,” Jesus cries, “I commend my spirit.”
When we have done what we can, when hope seems too heavy for us to hold any longer, we place hope into God’s hands–trusting God to hold it for us.
God, hold our hope for us, we pray, when we cannot hold it for ourselves. Amen.