If you’re not too familiar with the Old Testament, reading Zephaniah this week was probably quite intense. I’ve read it before and it was still intense. Some of the words that stuck out to me were:

• destruction
• distress
• anguish
• trouble
• darkness
• wrath
• gloom

It’s incredible how the last chapters of John go so well with Habakkuk. John ends his writing with the resurrection and the appearance of Jesus to his disciples. It’s an unexpected and amazing ending to the story that could have ended much worse. But the disappointment, confusion, and disbelief from the crucifixion still lingers. Although Jesus is back from the dead and appears to His disciples, they still find it hard to believe. Thomas needed to touch Jesus. The disciples still found it hard to believe it was really Jesus when He had breakfast with them on the beach even though they recognized Him.

As I am writing this, it is Good Friday. It’s on this day that we remember the day Jesus accomplished the primary goal he was sent for: to die for the sin of the world, to experience and endure the punishment for sin that we deserved. We know this because we have the New Testament to help us understand the meaning of Jesus’s death. But that wasn’t the case for the disciples. Good Friday was probably one of the most confusing days for the disciples as they watched their Rabbi be crucified. Everything they thought they had worked for seemed to go down the drain in a matter of hours. It seemed like the ministry of Jesus was over like a flash in the pan.