Saturday: Mary Magdalene

From Hosanna to the Horror

So you were there when it happened? When they killed him? When men like you killed him?

Yes. I was there.

It still feels like a nightmare to me. You cannot even imagine what we went through that week. To see him finally worshiped just a few days earlier—to hear the people shout, “Hosanna!”—to see the crowds lay down their palm branches and acknowledge what we who have followed him have known all along: that he is God.

John 12:13 (NASB)

took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and [began] to shout, ‘Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel.’

There was so much joy, so much excitement, so much peace in my heart to finally see people worshiping Jesus. Yet, we could not have imagined then what just a couple of days would bring. Such darkness. Such despair.

The Darkness of the Cross

If I close my eyes, I can still hear them chanting: “Crucify him! Crucify him! Crucify him!”

John 19:6 (NASB)

So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, ‘Crucify, crucify!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.’

Even then, I did not believe it. Even then, I thought, The Lord will give us a way out.

Then they tore the flesh from his bones. They beat him mercilessly. I had seen him do miraculous things—bringing the dead back to life, casting out demons. And then I saw the nails pierce his hands, the thorns pierce his head, and him hanging on that cross, bloodied and tortured like an evil criminal.

Yet, even then, I thought, This could not be the end. I wanted to scream at him to do something: Save yourself! This is not over!

“It is finished,” he said.

John 19:30 (NASB)

Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

Finished? Just like that? I stared at his lifeless body on the cross, waiting for it to move again. But it did not. Was it really over? Is that how it really ends?

The Longest Saturday

Saturday was the longest day of my life. I felt as if I had held my breath the entire day. I tried to focus. I tried to rest in the Lord, but my mind was racing. Everything that happened, everything I saw, would not escape my mind.

I wanted to be hopeful, and part of me was. But the hours kept passing, and he wasn’t coming. I knew him to be Lord. I knew him to be the conqueror of death. But he was still in the ground.

I couldn’t help it. My faith wandered. Was it all for naught? Had the grave truly silenced him? I never thought it could. I didn’t think anything could stop him. But what if I was wrong? My life’s meaning, my life’s purpose was buried in a tomb, and I could do nothing about it.