The Stillness of Holy Saturday

I wonder what they were doing that Saturday? Were some huddled in a room somewhere terrified they would be next? Were they exhausted? Did they jump at every and any unexpected sound? From Biblical accounts, it seems this may have been the case.

Were they hopeless?

We tend to look at these heroes of the New Testament – the Disciples, Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary who had been set free from her past and others as larger than life. We view them from the resurrection side of history. We know how this one ends – they didn’t.

Saul (who would become Paul) was likely celebrating Passover in the strict traditional style. Certainly he may have felt relief that the ordeal with the rabble-rousing Jesus was successfully concluded. Little did he know.

Let’s focus on the mother of Jesus for a moment. From the cross, Jesus put her in the care of John. “Behold your son…” He told her. He did not leave this world without expressly putting his mother in the care of a disciple He loved. How interesting, since history tells us that Jesus had siblings. Yet, it was not James who Jesus entrusted with his mother. No, it was John.

And what of Mary? We are given little in the Bible. I have to wonder if her mind played back across the years to when she was a young girl and God’s Spirit overshadowed her and brought forth His Son. Any mother’s heart is shattered at the death of their child. Hers would be no different.

Then, there was Joseph of Arimathea who retrieved the body of Jesus to place in a new tomb. This would not be an easy task. It would be gory, based on the horrors not only of the crucifixion itself, but the of “scourging” that preceded it. “Scourging” – such an antiseptic word for the meticulous and brutal torture our Lord allowed them to inflict upon Him. It is not the purpose of this post to describe this, however, it is a good reminder that crucifixion was illegal to perform against a Roman. Yes. It was that bad.

Joseph of Arimathea somehow conveyed the battered, unrecognizable body of Jesus to a tomb.

And God was with him.

The hush of anticipation followed the chaotic upheaval that Earth itself displayed upon the death of Christ. This is speculation on my part but like in the passage of Revelation where there is silence for thirty minutes, I believe the same angel armies who announced the birth of Jesus with singing and praise were silently waiting for the eruption of the resurrection. They stood sentry over His tomb.

Across the land, people struggled in grief and dismay. There had never been anyone like Jesus! They had been convinced He was, indeed, the Messiah. And now? How could this have turned out so wrong? Why did God not intervene? How could God have let Jesus come to such an end?

As the followers of Jesus wrestled with their sorrow, doubts and unending questions, the time passed. Each moment bringing them closer and closer to when the Light of the World would blast forth from a new tomb. Jesus would destroy destruction for all eternity.

Nothing could stop what was coming. Nothing.

– RG