Easter Victory, Easter Hope

The events of Good Friday had a certain finality to them. Several women, at least four, and the Apostle John saw Jesus die on the cross. Other Apostles might have observed from a distance. In Luke’s Gospel, he mentions other possible disciples being present at the point of Jesus’ death: “The centurion who witnessed what had happened glorified God and said, ‘This man was innocent beyond doubt.’ When all the people who had gathered for this spectacle saw what had happened, they returned home beating their breasts; but all his acquaintances stood at a distance, including the women who had followed him from Galilee and saw these events” (Lk 23:47-49). Luke took great pains to research the life of Jesus (see Lk 1:1-4), so his testimony about others watching at a distance cannot be ignored or discounted. It is probable that someone like Peter or James were unnamed eyewitnesses to the death of Jesus. After all, Peter did follow, at a safe distance, the mob that had arrested Jesus. Either way, the testimony of John, Mary Magdalene, and the virgin Mary would have been definitive. The Apostles might have also heard from Joseph of Arimathea or Nicodemus who took Jesus down from the cross and placed His body in Joseph’s tomb. Even if Joseph or Nicodemus did not report anything to the Apostles, the women who were at the foot of the cross not only watched Him die but were present at the burial of Jesus. Even without eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ death, the thoroughness of the Roman soldiers that crucified Jesus would have left little doubt of His fate in the Apostles’ minds.

Thus, Good Friday evening and the following forty hours must have been sorrowful beyond measure. All manner of thoughts would have coursed through the minds of the Apostles and disciples. Did we fail Jesus? We all said that we would willingly die with Him, but we did not have the nerve to stand with Jesus and to die along side of Him. How am I any better than Judas? Didn’t Jesus say at the Last Supper that “The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born” (Mt 26:24)? Does what He said apply to us along with Judas? We slept while Jesus asked us to pray with Him in the Garden. We ran away when Jesus was arrested. Only John and a few women were strong and brave enough to be with Jesus at the foot of the cross. Some Apostles we turned out to be.

Didn’t Jesus just teach at the Last Supper that “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (Jn 15:18-20). It is little wonder that those who ran when Jesus was arrested and were either at a distance from the cross or totally absent cowered behind locked doors. Had their thoughts turned to their own fate, the Apostles might have asked some tough questions. No doubt they will crucify us as surely as Jesus was crucified, but will we expire after a few hours on our crosses like Jesus or will we linger for several days as most people do when crucified? How much abuse will we suffer as we hang helplessly from our crosses? Will there be someone like Joseph of Arimathea or Nicodemus to take us down from the cross when we expire? Will there be places of burial for us? Or will we be left to rot on our crosses?

No matter what thoughts went through their minds after Jesus’ death on the cross, it is almost certain that their hope was challenged even if their faith in Jesus and their love for Him had not evaporated at His death. Hope is the trust we place in God’s promises. Yes, Jesus promised that He would die and rise again, but hope in that promise was upended by the seeming finality of His death. All of His other promises that seemed worthy of trust became subject to doubt. The scribes and Pharisees who opposed Him time after time without success seem to have won in the end. The promises only seemed to be undone and the scribes and Pharisees only seemed to prevail. Jesus’ resurrection restored the Apostles hope and therefore Easter must be the basis of our hope in Jesus and His promises, especially eternal life. It is Jesus’ resurrection that fortifies our hope, our trust, that our sins will be forgiven and that death does not win in the end. Indeed, if sin and death are our greatest enemies, then Jesus is a far greater victor than many people imagine.

—Fr Booth