Where Is God in the Ups and Downs of Life? Holy Week from Luke 19 to the Empty Tomb

One phone call can take you from the mountaintop to your knees. When that happens, you may wonder where God went. Holy Week gives the answer. In one week, Jesus went from a crowd shouting "Hosanna" to a cross and a sealed tomb. He is the God of celebration, the God of suffering, the God of the grave, and the God of glory. Whatever season you're in, He is there.

Is God with you when life is going well?

Yes, and that's often when you notice Him least. Holy Week began with the triumphal entry, a celebration fit for a King. Jesus is no stranger to celebration. His first miracle was at a wedding, and every good and perfect gift comes from Him.

Pastor Sean Sloan warned that we may never be in greater danger than when we get what we want. King David didn't fall while running from Saul. He fell after he became king, when he could send others to war and look out from his palace over everything he had.

When people told Jesus to quiet the crowd, He accepted their praise.

"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

Luke 19:40

Worship is giving praise back to the only one truly worthy of it. When you're on top, celebrate, but turn the praise back to Him. Pastor Sean noted that when we're on top, we tend to look down and around but not up.

Why did Jesus weep in the middle of a celebration?

He wept because the city didn't recognize its season. From the middle of the crowd, Jesus saw Jerusalem, where He would soon be put to death.

As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes."

Luke 19:41 to 42

He wept for His enemies. That's a lesson for any mountaintop season: recognize the season you're in, and keep your heart open to others. Another season is always coming.

Where is God when you're suffering?

He is right there with you, and He is wounded with you. Within days of Palm Sunday, Jesus was betrayed with a kiss, tried overnight by false witnesses, rejected, and crucified.

Psalm 23 moves from green pastures and still waters to the valley of the shadow of death. Pastor Sean called it a whiplash psalm. The Shepherd walks you safely through the valley instead of around it.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Isaiah 53:3 (ESV)

Pastor Sean pointed out that "acquainted" is misleading in English. It means Jesus knew grief well.

Jesus knows suffering firsthand. If you've been abused, abandoned, betrayed, lied to, or cheated on, you may have asked, "God, where were You?" Pastor Sean gave a pastoral answer: "He was there." He felt every wound with you. He doesn't ask you to deny or minimize your pain, or excuse those who caused it. He offers the power to endure.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews 12:1 to 3

Jesus was far from comfortable on the cross, and He was still confident and committed. When evil was at its worst, God was showing His best.

What is a Saturday season?

A Saturday season is the silent space between loss and new life, like the day Jesus lay in the tomb between the cross and the resurrection. Most churches don't know what to do with that Saturday. We celebrate Good Friday and Easter, but we skip the day God lay dead.

Pastor Sean said it isn't fair to rush past it. His mother had lost her son. His followers were frightened and grieving. Their grief was real and it wasn't unholy. God made us with emotions to carry us through loss.

You may be living a Saturday right now. You've prayed, obeyed, and watered the field, and nothing is growing. Maybe the suffering isn't ending in recovery. Don't give up. "God's silence is not absence. It's preparation." Consider a seed. It has to go into the ground before it grows, and there is no resurrection without a death.

What do scars mean after God heals you?

Scars tell two stories at once: you were wounded, and you were healed. After the resurrection, Jesus invited Thomas to touch the scars in His hands and side. His glorified body still carried them.

For example, Pastor Sean described scars as proof of victory. "I was hurt, but I'm still here." You only have a scar where there has been healing. An open wound is different. A scar is something you can carry into glory.

You're never so great that you're above Him and don't need Him, and never so low that you're beneath Him and can't be reached by Him. In every season you have a companion, so you are never alone. You have a purpose, and it matters. And you have a future, because the battle is already won.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Galatians 6:9

Common questions

Why did Jesus weep over Jerusalem on Palm Sunday?

In Luke 19:41 to 44, Jesus wept because the city did not recognize the time of God's coming to them. He grieved for the very people who would reject Him.

Where is God when I am suffering?

God is present with you in suffering. Isaiah 53:3 says Jesus was familiar with pain, and He shares your wounds. He doesn't ask you to deny your pain; He offers strength to endure it.

What happened on Holy Saturday?

Holy Saturday is the day Jesus' body lay in the tomb between His crucifixion and resurrection. For His followers it was a day of grief and silence, and it reminds us that God is still at work when He seems silent.

Why did Jesus keep His scars after the resurrection?

In John 20:27, Jesus invited Thomas to touch His wounds. His scars show both the suffering He endured and the victory He won. A scar means healing has happened.