All hell was breaking loose, yet Luke tells us that the people rested.
On the day of Christ’s suffering—when the horrors of Good Friday reached their climax—something extraordinary happened: rest. The women from Galilee, who had followed Jesus and witnessed his body taken down from the cross, returned home that evening thinking they still had work to do. Luke 23:56 tells us they prepared spices and ointments to anoint his body. But as they finished, the Sabbath began, and so they rested.
Even after witnessing such agony, they thought the work wasn’t done. What they didn’t yet understand was that Jesus had already completed the most important work on that Good Friday. His suffering, his sacrifice, his love poured out—it was enough. The Sabbath had truly come.
Jesus finished the work so that we could find rest.
That day, Jesus labored for everyone: for the bystanders and the mocking soldiers, for Pilate and Herod, for guilty Barabbas and Simon of Cyrene, for signmakers, cross builders, criminals, gamblers, good and righteous men like Joseph of Arimathea, and for the heartbroken women forced to watch at a distance.
Jesus was working hard, giving everything he had. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. He redeemed, rescued, and forgave us—even when we didn’t know what we were doing.
Athanasius, the early church father, posed the question: What then was God to do when he saw humanity spiraling into non-being? God sent His Son. Jesus came to rescue us, to awaken us to life, and to offer us rest in Him.
This rest belongs to you. It belongs to all of humanity. It is freely given, out of the abundance of God’s heart of love. Jesus did the work, so there is nothing left for us to do but say yes—to step in and receive the rest He offers.
And that is my prayer today: for my soul, for my family, and for you. May we all step into the rest that Jesus offers and live in the peace of His finished work.
