Holy Saturday

Of all days in our Christian Holy Week, Saturday intrigues me most.  Protestants, and even more so 'evangelicals,' have for years shunned or downplayed Holy Week Observances - a likely carry over of the anti-Catholic sentiments of the early to mid 20th century - but we do have a list of acceptable observances, which are more recognizable in recent days among even our tribe.  Now we freely talk of, and in some circles even observe, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, but Saturday -the Jewish Sabbath and the day our Lord rested in the tomb - well... we good Christian folk usually only go shopping.  

Yet the Saturday of this Holy Week is a great day for worship and pause.  By pause I am not meaning we should crawl into a hole and hide, but I DO think that this wonderful day is worthy of our observance and, certainly,our mention.  For one thing, we need to remember that Jesus died and was buried.  Helping us remember the curse, that the curse of our sin is death, and that Jesus came to become the very first-fruits of our victory yet to come (1 Cor. 15)

Secondly, we need to recall the effects of that death.  The isolation, heartbreak, and abandonment that His followers felt on that Sabbath was enormous. What better way to recall that than with silence.  Dare I call for a Silent Saturday?  I think so - for just as no mass is celebrated among our brethren of the Catholic faith on this day - no service of celebration, only personal reflection, would be appropriate for us either.  Simply put, this is a day of remembering.  A day of reflection upon that which has destroyed the first human life and every life thereafter, the curse of sin itself.  

But third, and this is the joy for me, it is a day of anticipation.  It is hard to keep still on this Saturday, though I will, because I know that Sunday's Coming. For the Jews, the new day begins at sundown - 6:00 p.m., becoming a time of resumed activity.  Jesus' body may now be prepared.  It was after 6:00 p.m.!  But we know that this preparation was not necessary. For the body of my LORD is coming out.  Death cannot hold my King. The grave has no sway.  It is but a temporary house for the rest of my LORD, who in honoring the Sabbath Himself, waited, and after doing His duty out of obedience and Divine love, gets up, folds His napkin, and leaves. 

Yes, Saturday is a Holy Day.  A solemn day of silence and of remembering the curse. But, we are not silent and we do not remember to a fault.  Not at all.  And why? Because... we know that this is not the end of our story. We know that Sunday's Coming! and can close our eyes at days end with naught but excitement and joy - for tomorrow and... for Saturday's end!

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