GOOD FRIDAY: Loss, Grief, and When Nothing Makes Sense

The Best of You

Dr. Alison Cook

Health & Fitness, Mental Health

4.9 • 956 Ratings

🗓️ 3 April 2026

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, we’ve been walking through a special Easter devotional journey—following the story of Jesus as it unfolds from safety, to rupture, to suffering. Today, we arrive at Good Friday. This is the day everything seems to fall apart. The day marked by loss, grief, and deep disorientation. In John 19, we witness the final moments of Jesus’ life—where hope appears to give way to death, and nothing makes sense in the way it once did. This episode creates space to sit in that reality—to acknowledge the weight of what is lost, and the very human experience of not yet knowing what comes next. Today’s Scripture is: John 19 **Join me for a special Easter devotional on Sunday. Connect with Dr. Alison on Instagram: @dralisoncook Join 80,000+ Soul Menders in Dr. Alison’s free email community for ongoing reflection and support. While Dr. Cook is a counselor, the content of this podcast and any of the products provided by Dr. Cook are not specific counseling advice nor are they a substitute for individual counseling. The content and products provided on this podcast are for informational purposes only.‍ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone, I'm Dr. Allison. Today's scripture offers us a wiser way of being human as we step into the day.
0:12.0	Today is Good Friday, and there's something important to name right at the beginning. This day does not feel good. It's a day marked by loss, by grief, by confusion. If you've
0:24.7	been walking through this week with me, you can feel the progression. We started with safety,
0:30.1	then moved into betrayal, then into resilience and suffering. And now we arrive here, the moment where everything seems to fall apart.
0:41.0	Today's scripture is from John 19, 28 through 30, 41 through 42.
0:47.5	Later, knowing that everything had now been finished and so that scripture would be fulfilled,
0:53.9	Jesus said, I am thirsty. A jar of
0:57.3	wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop
1:02.0	plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, it is finished.
1:09.5	With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. At the place where Jesus said, it is finished. With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. At the place where
1:14.6	Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid,
1:20.9	because it was the Jewish day of preparation, and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
1:28.9	On this Good Friday, John gives us this simple, devastating line.
1:33.4	Jesus said, it is finished.
1:35.8	Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
1:38.9	This can feel like a heartbreaking ending.
1:42.2	And if we slow down long enough to enter this moment, we begin to feel
1:45.7	what the people closest to Jesus must have felt. Heartbreak, grief, disorientation, because this
1:52.9	is not how the story was supposed to go. They had followed him, trusted him, believed in him.
2:00.1	They had seen glimpses of something powerful, healing,
2:03.1	restoration, and hope. And now he's gone. It's a kind of pain that comes when something
2:10.0	you had hoped in comes to an end. It's not just sadness, it's confusion and disorientation.
	...

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