Holy Week, Silent Saturday
62The nest day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63“Sir,” they said, “we remember that while He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, His disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that He has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” 65“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” 66So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard. (Matthew 27:62-66)
The five verses above are the most detailed account of “Silent Saturday” in all four Gospels. The only other Gospel writer to mention anything about that sacred Saturday was Luke, where he wrote in Chapter 23, Verse 56: Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.
You must remember that in the original Holy Week, the day after Good Friday, was the Passover Sabbath, the most Holy Day on the calendar for Judaism. Jesus and His disciples had arrived in Jerusalem the previous Sunday (Palm Sunday) at the beginning of the Passover Celebration. Jews around the world still celebrate the Passover, when God passed over the Jewish people in Egypt and took the lives of all the firstborn to cement the Jews exile from slavery. But on the Sabbath Passover during Holy Week, Jerusalem was deeply divided. For the Pharisees and leading religious figures who murdered Jesus on the cross, they had believed they won, but they were afraid. They were afraid of the power of Jesus’ teaching and His followers’ movement even in His death. They feared that the disciples would steal Jesus’ body and attempt to create a rouse that He had risen from the grave as Jesus had promised. So, they approached Pilate and demanded Roman guards be placed to guard the tomb. It is very interesting to think about what that day meant for everyone involved. What were the thoughts of the Centurion who had witnessed three hours of darkness, a great earthquake, and came to the realization as Jesus breathed His last breath that Jesus was truly the Son of God? How deep was the grief of Jesus’ disciples as they struggled to believe that Jesus was who He said He was? And perhaps most intimately, what was Mary, the mother of Jesus, feeling on that dark day? Did Mary, at least, have the hope and confidence in knowing what would come Sunday morning?
We have the unique privilege of knowing how the story ends. We know what comes Sunday morning. But on that first “Easter”, the only ones who knew what was coming were God and Jesus. For everyone else involved, all they had to hold onto was their faith. Their faith that Jesus is who He said He is, and their faith that He would do exactly what He said He would and rise from the grave Sunday morning. What incredible faith that would have been. The disciples had just witnessed a horrific death to their teacher, their healer, their savior. Many, we can conclude from the Gospels, struggled with their faith. Peter, the Rock of the 12, denied even knowing Jesus three times as He was led through a corrupt trial. Thomas would not believe Jesus was resurrected until a week after Sunday, when Thomas had to see Jesus and witness His mortal wounds for himself. Perhaps only Mary had faith strong enough to keep her confidence in the resurrection through what would have been the longest day of all their lives. Mary knew better than anyone else on earth who Jesus is. She, of course, had been the one to deliver the Savior of the world through immaculate conception. Mary knew Jesus is the Son of God, and Mary knew if her son said He was coming back in three days, Jesus would do just that.
We are in our “Silent Saturday”. We are all anxiously awaiting the return of Jesus Christ. With patient faith, we know that Jesus will make true on His promise to return and issue in the end of days, when Jesus will call His devoted followers into a new heaven and a new earth. So, what do we do during our “Silent Saturday”? Do we just sit idly by waiting for Jesus’ return? No. Do we go out and persecute the world for their sins? Gosh no. Do we blow off the suspense of Jesus’ second coming and continue to sin with the thought we can repent and find salvation once that date grows much closer? Go ahead and do so and see where it gets you. No, we do what we are called to do: be ready, repent of our sins and stop sinning, spread the Good News of Jesus’ Gospel, and love all people as Jesus does, each and every day. Do not be “silent” this Saturday. Invite friends to church. Let the world see your joy and confidence in knowing that Jesus is coming soon. Seek first the Kingdom and lift up the only King worth worshipping. Let everyone you run into this weekend know where your strength and faith come from. And if they seem lost and depressed at how dark and divided this world has become, remind them of the ultimate truth: Sunday is coming.
Common Sense Reborn 