Holy Saturday Reflection by the Reverend Jessica Rooks, District Superintendent, Mountain Sky Conference, The United Methodist Church
Matthew 27
57 That evening a man named Joseph came. He was a rich man from
Arimathea who had become a disciple of Jesus. 58 He came to
Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate gave him permission to take it. 59 Joseph
took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and laid
it in his own new tomb, which he had carved out of the rock. After he rolled a
large stone at the door of the tomb, he went away. 61 Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting in front of the tomb.
The
scripture for Holy Saturday is brief. After a week filled with activity and
events, with drama and high emotions, with betrayal, denial and abandonment,
with hope at the beginning and despair at the end, today is an odd day.
Today
is ‘tomb time.’ Today we sit, and we wait. Nothing of significance occurs in
the scriptures. Jesus has been laid in the tomb, and now all we can do is wait.
For
many, today is a preparation day for tomorrow’s celebrations. And yet, for the
disciples, it was a very different kind of day. They weren’t preparing for
resurrection, because they hadn’t experienced it yet. They weren’t preparing
for sunrise services, easter egg hunts, family meals, sanctuaries filled with
lilies, and trumpets preparing to announce the arrival of the risen Christ.
For
the disciples, this day was one of disbelief, confusion, grief, and fear. Jesus
lay in the tomb, out of sight, his presence gone from the world. For the
disciples, the life they knew had come to an end, and the life ahead of them
was not yet revealed. For the disciples, for Jesus’ mother, for Mary, for the
community who had put their faith and love in Jesus, it was a day of grief and
disbelief.
As
Jesus lay in the tomb, they experienced their own tomb time.
What
does it look like today to really experience Holy Saturday? To sit and wait. To
take a moment at some point today to experience the tomb time, the grief, the
disbelief, or the uncertainty of what is next. What does it look like to honor
the experiences of so long ago, today, as we sit and wait on this Holy
Saturday?
Prayer:
O
God of the liminal moments, Today we sit in the in between: in between death
and resurrection, in between pain and hope, in between grief and new life. Help
us, O God, to stay present to this day, to this space of unknowing, to the
uncomfortable moments of Holy Saturday, so that we would not rush through this
day, missing the sacred moments that are only offered in the in between. Help
us, O God, to accept the invitation into the tomb, an invitation into mystery
and the unknown place of transformation. Help us to pause on this holy day, so
that our hearts might truly prepare for the unexpected, the unanticipated, the
unbelievable that is to come. God, be with us in our tomb time, so that we
might be more fully present with Christ. Amen.
