Holy Saturday Reflection

 

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.