Holy Saturday.
Over the last several years, I’ve found myself growing in appreciation for this sacred space between loss and redemption.
Holy Saturday marks the space in between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. It was the day where the disciples sat in the grief and sorrow of what had just taken place as Jesus was crucified. I find myself asking this year, “What was that grief like for the disciples?” Was there bargaining, anger, and denial? Everything that they had loved and clung to was suddenly gone as their dreams slipped through their fingers. Easter Sunday was not yet their experience and the questions and uncertainty loomed large. They didn’t know where the story will end.
To be honest, Holy Saturday has become more and more of a home for me. Between losing Tami, the pandemic, and seeing a world falling apart, there are often times I wonder “God what could you possibly be up to?” For many a loss has come and they still await the resolution of the story. Much like the disciples, the well-worn paths of expectations, have been upended. In this liminal space, even the most certain “north stars” are lost and they walk to find their way.
Holy Saturday also commemorates the descent of Jesus into Hell. The work that he does to seize the keys of death and Hell from the evil one. It’s a cosmic work of redemption and transformation but the eyes of the disciples didn’t see it. As eternity’s greatest victory is being won, they can’t see it yet. They are left on this day with only grief.
This Holy Saturday, may we find the hope to trust that God is winning our greatest victories even when we can’t see it. That in his power he is descending into the deepest mess of our shattered expectations and is bringing redemption even when we can’t see it. May we find the courage to keep reading our story in the hope that in his way and time we’ll see what He’s up to even in this mess.