"The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment."
-Luke 23:55-56
How hard must it have been to watch Jesus suffer, die on a cross, then be given a hasty burial so as not to violate their law. How much harder to sit idly by the next day, this same law preventing them from doing much else besides grieve. I wonder if God designed it for this purpose- that they may have full access to their grief without passing it off in other actions. A deeper grief. A deeper understanding of what had transpired. A deeper pain. A deeper joy. Yes, joy. Just not that day.
Knowing how the story ends, I see perfection in the pain. Take any joyful event in your life. The smile of a child. A much-needed job offer. The birth of a baby. If that exact same action were to be experienced both after an absolutely fine, normal day and after a dark, grief-ridden day, which do you think you would feel more fully? Which would be more needed? Appreciated? How do you think you would feel if it was nearly a full reversal of that which caused your grief? I don't believe God wastes an opportunity to grow us, to refine us, to bless us. To love us.
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