Jesus said, “…remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (NRSV, Matthew 28:20)

How impossible it is for us to put ourselves in the place of the disciples and holy women that first Good Friday. In a few short hours all their hopes had been wrecked and their faith stretched to breaking point.

For the past three years their whole lives had been centred on our Blessed Lord. He had literally been their Master because they had throughout that time acted on his instructions, going where he sent them, and doing as he ordered. He alone had given their life its meaning so that, without him, everything would be empty and purposeless.

And now it was all over. Their beloved Lord and Master, for whom they had declared themselves ready to give all that they had, to go to prison and to death, had been nailed to the cross of shame and had died in agony. As for the disciples and the part they had played, there was nothing but desertion and denial to look back upon, and the opportunity of making amends had been lost for ever.

So it was back once again to their boats and their nets, for the death and burial of Christ had closed a chapter in their lives as surely as the stone had sealed the tomb.