Life Continues Despite the Stuckness of Grief

Despite Jesus' death, life goes on. The women had plenty to do to prepare Jesus' body for burial, but it was the sabbath. Their traditions and rituals, their routines and chores, their spiritual and physical practices all demanded their attention. Despite their grief, they had to keep moving, one foot in front of the other.

That's the thing about grief -- while it seems like time should stand still, it just doesn't. The rest of the world keeps moving. When I am the one grieving, it seems like everyone else moves too fast, returning so quickly to their routines and chores. In those moments, it takes everything I have just to keep moving, one foot in front of the other.

But life does keep moving. And even for me in moments of grief, time creeps forward. Every day that I wake up and eat brings me a step closer to healing. Every time I take a shower or make a phone call or take a trip to the grocery store moves me through the molasses of grief and toward the light. On this holy Saturday, we need only hang on to the hope of new life for one more night.

Narrative Lectionary Text: Luke 23:48-56

And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph, who, though a member of the council, had not agreed to their plan and action. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea, and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb where no one had ever been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments. On the sabbath they rested according to the commandment.