Today is Good Friday. It’s the crux of the Christian story.
Debby Topliff, paints entire books of the Bible in large-scale paintings. Above is her painting of the book of Mark, set to music and highlighting scenes from Palm Sunday to Easter morning. Watching this has become a Holy Week tradition for me.
The song is by Jars of Clay and called, ” O Come and Mourn With Me Awhile.” Debby sent me this link a year ago, when I was in the deep work of lament, which is to mourn and still hope.
A broken heart, a fount of tears
Ask and they will not be denied
A broken heart love’s cradle is
Jesus our Lord is crucified.
Ask and they will not be denied
A broken heart love’s cradle is
Jesus our Lord is crucified.
Jesus dying was a serious plot twist, not the way anyone around him thought it would be, even though it was exactly what Jesus said would happen.
I love the last image of the three women running from the tomb. Note that their arms are full. They brought oils to anoint Christ’s body. Debby thinks they bookend Jesus’s life, with the three Wise Men who brought him gifts of oil in the beginning.
“They got out as fast as they could, beside themselves, their heads swimming. Stunned, they said nothing to anyone.” Mark 16:8 The Message
Oh I get that.
Eventually Christ himself appears to Mary Magdalene, but when she tells others, no one believes her. I get that too.
Today we remember the point in the story where all hope seems to be lost.
Come and mourn with me awhile.
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