Good Friday - Rev. Aimee Baxter

Our family recently watched the Marvel spinoff, WandaVision.

Two disclaimers: One, don’t panic if you haven’t seen the show or aren’t a big fan of superheroes. I think what I’m about to say will still track.

Two, if you are a fan, don’t call me out on what might feel like an oversimplification of the plot of the show. I get it – it’s complicated and layered.

The show centers around the main character, Wanda, and how she copes with her grief after the loss of her partner. The audience is taken on a journey of watching her manage her grief and eventually we see that this particular loss is only one of many that she’s experienced in her life. In the episode that deals with her past pain and trauma, a conversation around her grief delivers perhaps one of the best thoughts on grief I’ve ever heard. 

"But what is grief, if not love persevering?”

As a people who know loss, these words ring true.

As a people who gather in this space today, we are the embodiment of them.

This day in the life of the church is perhaps one of the most vivid and poignant ways in Scripture we see this understanding of grief play out.

Jesus’ journey to the cross is the ultimate expression of love persevering through grief and pain.

The day is shrouded in grief.

Judas’ grief for his act of betrayal.

The grief that comes from a leader who ultimately caves to the shouts of the crowd.

A mother’s grief who is literally watching her son be killed for a crime he didn’t commit.

Grief of a man yanked from the crowd and forced to carry a cross. 

The grief of close friends and loved ones who are helpless.

Grief from Peter who denies Jesus three times.

It’s all too much and feels as though it’s too much to bear.

In the same conversation from WandaVision, she describes her grief this way: “It’s just like this wave washing over me, again and again. It knocks me down and when I try to stand up, it just comes for me again. It’s just gonna drown me.”

It’s at this point in the conversation on the show that the beautiful reminder is delivered: “But what is grief, if not love persevering.”

On this day, the hits (both physical and metaphorical) just keep coming for Jesus and those who love him. It’s like that wave that won’t let you get back up.

And yet – we do. And Jesus does.

“But what is grief, if not love persevering.”

The beauty of today is that it is also marked by love persevering.

Peter’s persevering, albeit misplaced, devotion to defend Jesus in the garden.

A man willing to carry the cross for Jesus when it got too heavy.

A mother remaining at the feet of her son through the most horrific moment of her life.

A son tending to his mother’s future care in the midst of his own agony.

A sponge full of wine to quench the thirst of a dying man.

The mercy of a spear in the side.

Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea’s generosity and care.

A Savior laid in a new tomb which had never been used.

“But what is grief, if not love persevering.”

It’s this unrelenting love through sorrow and pain that beckons us to call this day good.

This is the day that in the midst of tremendous grief, love persevered.