On The Journey… Holy Saturday

Today is Holy Saturday. It is a day of silence… the stone has been rolled over the opening of the tomb. Jesus’ body is laid to rest. The Pharisees and the Chief Priests went to Pilate and asked for an extra guard to be placed at the tomb “just in case” the disciples stole his body away to instigate a hoax that he had risen from the dead. (Matthew 27:57-66) And where were the disciples? Where were the woman, including Jesus’ grieving mother, Mary? Scripture is silent on this matter.

I remember one experience when I was growing up concerning Holy Saturday. As a Presbyterian, Saturday was just the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. And growing up, we did not have an Easter Sunrise Service on Easter morning. I wouldn’t experience that phenomenon until I went on Active duty as an Air Force Chaplain. So as a young lad, I went over to the next block to see if my buddy Danny could come out and play, His mother answered the door and told me that Danny couldn’t come out to play that day because they were remembering the time the Lord spent in the tomb. As a young fellow, I didn’t get it, but I said “thanks” and went back home. Funny how that incident has remained in my memory all these years. I told Denise that this Holy Week has been very different for me. I think it is a combination of being more intentional about focusing on each day and where the Lord was and blogging daily about these days in our Lord’s journey. So it is Saturday… and as I consider this day and the Lord I watch people around me. We are sitting at a cafe in Destin, Florida. The traffic was crazy getting down here because of the tourists coming to spend a week on the Gulf. People are wandering around shopping and eating. It is Spring Break. I wonder how many are pausing to consider the significance of this day or this weekend. Is it just a three day weekend to enjoy some fun in the sun? While I don’t necessarily feel that we should be locked away in our dark houses on Saturday contemplating the Lord’s death and time in the tomb, I do believe that we should take some time to consider what this weekend is all about.

Dear mother Mary, what went through your mind as you remembered your son’s battered and bloody body on the cross? Peter, were the denials still ringing loudly in your ears and to the very depths of your soul? James and John, did you regret not staying awake with Jesus, praying for him? Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Judas (son of James) and Simon the Zealot… what went through your hearts and minds as you remembered all that you had seen, experienced, and heard? Were your ears still ringing from the sound of the spikes being driven through his wrists and feet? Were you feeling the incredible guilt after you ran away when he was arrested? Were you wondering if it was all over? What was your backup plan? As you sat in the Upper Room, did you wonder what was going to happen next? Did every sound make you jump as you wondered, are they coming for me? And not to forget my brother Judas… Judas, whose immediate reaction was to take the “blood money” and buy a field where he could hang himself in grief and torment over his denial… Oh Judas, my prayer and my belief is that your tortured soul found relief and forgiveness from Jesus himself! What did you think when he embraced you in the realm of the dead and said, “I love you my brother and I understand. It was a part of God’s plan that even you couldn’t countermand.” Dear Judas, I pray you found peace… forgiveness… release… because if you didn’t, there is no hope for any of us!

Holy Saturday for the disciples was a time of more questions than answers. As I told the congregation I serve on Passion Sunday evening and Maundy Thursday, we have guilty knowledge the disciples and the women didn’t have. We know that Easter Sunday is coming and that the tomb will be empty! We know that he will appear in the Upper Room and show them the nail prints in his hands and the spear wound in his side. They didn’t know all of that on that first Saturday after Jesus was crucified. All they knew was that he was in the tomb! They had seen his broken and battered body taken down from the cross. They had no hope… No plans… No dreams… Only dread!

Perhaps it is good for we 21st Century Christians to think on these things. Perhaps we would do well to look at this Saturday from their perspective. Perhaps then we would experience the wonder, the mystery, the joy and the excitement of Easter morning with renewed spirits.

Lord Jesus Christ, help me to remember anew the glory of your rising from the dead! Help me to see it not as a statement of doctrine but rather as the incredible miracle that it was… and is… and always shall be! Lord Jesus, renew and encourage me as you did your disciples so long ago. Blessed are you who have seen and believed… Blessed even more are those who haven’t seen and yet believe! Amen, Come Lord Jesus.