“After he had taken the body down, he wrapped it in a linen cloth and laid him in a rock-hewn tomb in which no one had yet been buried.”
Luke 23:53
Sometimes after a long battle with illness, there is some small relief in knowing that your loved one is not longer in pain. When I think of this last sorrow of Mary, I wonder if she felt some relief knowing that her son’s agony was finally over. I wonder if she was able to fully trust his promise that he would return to the Father and if she really believed that he was at peace. For me, it’s hard to trust when I feel like I have to buried a treasured hope or dream. It feels final to admit that something isn’t going to happen, or at least not yet.
Not yet. That is the promise that is present in the tomb on Good Friday and Holy Saturday. There will be triumph and joy and reunion, but not yet. There will be a complete reworking of the way things are, but not yet.
A few years ago on a retreat I was invited to meditate on Jesus’s time in the tomb and imagine what that time was like. Today I am going to spend some time meditating on Mary’s time of waiting while Jesus was in the tomb. She had to put all of her faith and trust in the broken body of her son, and let him rest. I too have to let certain hopes and dreams to rest with Jesus and have faith and trust that he will rework them in his time and in his way, and I too will experience that triumph and joy.
Not yet. Soon.
Questions for reflection:
What hopes and dreams might I be called to let rest for a time so I can wait for God’s plan in my life?
Where do I need a sense of joy and triumph in my life?
In what situations is God saying to me “Not yet. Soon.”?
