Happy Easter!
This weekend, we celebrate my favorite day of the Church year. It is not Easter. Of course, Easter is the high point of our faith. Nothing is more significant than the Resurrection. But my heart always finds its home on Holy Saturday.
On Holy Saturday, we know that Jesus died and was laid in a tomb. But there has been no resurrection yet. His battered and broken body was laid to rest. After enduring the torments of hell physically, emotionally, and psychologically, He is placed in a borrowed grave. Imagine the disciples on this day. Desperate, afraid, alone. It is not knowing what to do. The only word that grabs onto the feeling is that it is a day of overwhelming grief for those who loved Him and perhaps jubilation for those He threatened.
The world is suffering. Hope has died. The flame of life is extinguished. A paralysis of sorts has consumed Jerusalem and the surrounding communities. Word is spreading of Jesus’ death. It is whispered from one to another until the wail of loss echoes across the countryside.
Holy Saturday is all those things, yet it is still my favorite day of the church year. That is not because I like to suffer but rather because I don’t pray the day from outside the tomb. Too often, we remain outside the grave with the disciples and Mary. We allow ourselves to live in the hopelessness and grief of his disciples on Holy Saturday. I love Holy Saturday because I don’t spend it outside the tomb. I pray from within the tomb. Unaware of the unrest and anxiety of the disciples and followers of Jesus. Ignorant even of Mary, his mother.
Jesus is fully human and fully divine. The tomb is not necessary for the divine nature of Jesus. The divine nature of Jesus could have been raised immediately.
The tomb is essential for Jesus’ human nature. Within the tomb, Jesus lies broken, battered, and beaten in every way possible. He died not knowing if His mission was successful. He died, not sure if it had been enough if He had been enough. Abandoned and devastated, He died. With faith in His Father, He died.
Watch and pray with what is happening in the tomb. Jesus’ shrouded body lies on a stone slab. The tomb is dark and enclosed. It is quiet, with no sound penetrating through the stone. It envelops Jesus and God, His Father. God, the Father, gently embraces His Son, holding Him close. Much like Jesus did at the last supper, the Father has a towel around His waist, cleaning the wounds and wiping the sweat and blood from Jesus’ face. The Father holds His Son, assuring Him all is well and telling Him He is love. His life has been enough, more than enough. God the Father looks on His Son Jesus with love so great that it is blinding light in the tomb’s darkness.
Remember that Jesus’ divine nature did not need the tomb. His human nature did. On Holy Saturday, the Father heals the Son’s humanity enough that He can be raised from the dead.
In the tomb, the power of God’s healing love is hope.
In the tomb, the power of God’s healing love heals Jesus’ humanity.
In the tomb, the power of God’s healing love makes Jesus’ human nature whole.
In the tomb, the power of God’s healing love embraces the humanity of Jesus and our humanity for all time.
In the tomb, the power of God’s healing love enables Jesus to be raised.
In the tomb, the human and divine nature of God is One. The Son and the Father are One.
In the tomb, the power of God’s healing love gives Jesus and all of us resurrection.
Such a lesson for us. When we are broken and beaten by life. We, like Jesus, need to retreat to the tomb of our soul. But we do not go there to sulk. We go to be healed by God. We allow God to minister to us and heal our brokenness. Then, we are raised and face the world again. We need not worry; He has been there before us and will show us the way.
May all the best blessings of the Risen Christ be yours.
In God’s Unending Love,
Gwen
