The final day of our Lenten season has arrived, 40 days we have wondered as we have wandered. Holy Saturday is difficult because this is the day of the Sabbath, and the day that Jesus lay in the tomb and all the disciples would have to rest, and wait. We join the disciples this day and contemplate what must that have been like. What must they have felt, and thought, and done this day as the emptiness set in?
We have all experienced the loneliness of one who is close to us being away. When a spouse is on a business trip, when children are at camp, when we first move out of our homes, these times give us an idea of what the disciples must have felt on this Holy Saturday as the body of Jesus lay in that tomb.
I am thankful we know how the story plays out, and what happens in the end. The disciples had been taught but they didn’t quite yet understand. It is hard to see “the forest for the trees”, we like to say, and it is true. In the heat of the moment, the moment is often all we can see. The big picture is quick to disappear and the immediate is all we can handle (or try to handle).
Maybe today we can take a moment to consider what our lives would be like had Christ Jesus not come into our world. Where would we put our hope? I know all too well how I can put my hope today in myself, in various leaders, teachers, and loved ones even when Christ is ever-present. Blessed be our God in heaven who has given me the Spirit to know my hope is founded in Christ Jesus my Lord!
Today let’s consider where we find our hope in our moments, and where we might be leaning on earthly things and relationships instead of eternal Truth. We are not without our Lord Jesus Christ! He even now is our Mediator and Advocate before the Father. We may recall the loneliness of this day when Jesus died, but we know we are not alone. We know tomorrow the Sun will rise with a warmth that touches us and a light that illuminates the world!
Today’s verse comes from the Prophet Isaiah (40:21, ESV):
Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
A Collect for Holy Saturday from the 2019 Book of Common Prayer-
O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of thy dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.