How do we react to this state of suspension? I think of those disciples and how they must have felt once the crucifixion was done. Surely their responses were similar to ours this past year. Some of us sink into a state of depression, a tomb from which we may or may not emerge. Some of us go into hiding. Some of us slide into those familiar self-recriminations. We beat ourselves up for the ways we couldn't protect our loved ones. We sneer at ourselves for daring to hope that things could be different.
I think of all the Good Friday characters that are more tangential to the story. Did those Roman soldiers realize what they had witnessed? How many crucifixions happened in an average week? I think of the slaves who did the clean up work after justice had been served.
I also think of people like Pilate, the administrator caught between all the competing demands of constituencies. I wonder if Pilate wanted to wash his hands in a more definitive way, take his belongings and go far, far away.
It's important to remember that all of these people were human, just as we are, humans with the full range of emotions. One way to do this is by trying to put ourselves into their shoes. Who are you in the story of Good Friday?
Who will you be in the story of Easter morning and the days after?
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