Holy Saturday

Something about Holy Saturday really resonates with me.

Its that in-between day, between "it is finished" and the evidence as such. Or at least we see that now.

At the time what did they think; feel; do?

I guess I just think so much about how we ourselves are in an in-between time, between "he is risen" and the full experience as such.

We still live with death and suffering, and Jesus lives with us. But he wept in the face of it when he was here, and though he's raised he did promise we'd have trouble in this time, and we'd have to be patient as God was being patient, not wanting anyone to perish. Of course he also said to take heart, because he'd overcome the world.

But like I said, we're living between the "it is finished" and the full experience. He isn't going to feast again like he did at the last supper until the kingdom has come in full.

I don't think I'd like Holy Saturday if I didn't know what was next. But something about it puts the peril and the adventure; the vital relevance and the yearning hope of this faith in focus.

One website describes Holy Saturday (in Latin, Sabbatum Sanctum ) this way: It is the 'day of the entombed Christ,' is the Lord's day of rest, for on that day Christ's body lay in His tomb. We recall the Apostle's Creed which says "He descended unto the dead." It is a day of suspense between two worlds, that of darkness, sin and death, and that of the Resurrection and the restoration of the Light of the World. For this reason no divine services are held until the Easter Vigil at night. This day between Good Friday and Easter Day makes present to us the end of one world and the complete newness of the era of salvation inaugurated by the Resurrection of Christ."

As a pastor in particular, between the busyness of Good Friday and Easter Sunday (and in the face of their inevitable failure to capture the significance of those events), there is something about the quietness of Holy Saturday that is special as well. It is a day to ponder, and let life speak for itself, groan for itself, breathe a little bit in the meantime, and wait. We look back, we look ahead, and here we are. We live in light of passion week, without denying where we are.

Yeah, there is something about this day that really resonates with me.