Good morning. At New Life Christian Church we spent last evening in worship and contemplation with our Good Friday service. Tomorrow, it is Easter. Tomorrow, we will celebrate the glorious day that changed everything for all who will call upon the name of Jesus and be saved. But what about today, the day in between?
The Catholic church felt the need to “fill in the blank” so to speak, and they fashioned a tradition for “Holy Saturday.” But the gospels are largely silent when it comes to this day.
One verse, Luke 23:56, gives us a few words: On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
These words tell us about the women who had hurried to the tomb in which Jesus was laid. They had come to do what they could to anoint His body before the sun set. Once the sun had set, the Sabbath was upon them, and by law they could do nothing more for Him except to wait for Sunday.
That Saturday would have been one of grief, of shame, and of hiding. It was the day after they had seen their Lord crucified and all of those closest to Him were sure that the authorities would find them and have a cross made ready for them as well.
So, the women waited, the men hid, and they all grieved.
The Jewish leaders were busy on that day. They went to Pilot and demanded that a guard be put around the tomb, saying that they had to make sure that His followers couldn’t interfere (Matthew 27:63-65). In reality, they remembered His words that “on the 3rd day He would rise.” They thought that Roman guards could prevent the resurrection. They were fools.
As for Jesus, we don’t know. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 3:18-20 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.
Did this happen on the Saturday before the resurrection? We don’t actually know, but that is what our Christian traditions indicate.
What about us? How should we spend the Saturday that lies between our remembrance of Christ on the cross and Resurrection Sunday? In worship. How else could we consider this day. Most certainly, it is a day worthy of our thoughts, our prayers, and our worship.
Thank you Jesus for Friday, and for Sunday, and for Saturday!
Vern