Day 7: Holy Saturday

This devotional comes from BibleProject

Holy Saturday is marked by darkness and waiting—waiting in grief, in hope, and with unanswered questions.

Now that Jesus has been killed, the chief priests and Pharisees want Jesus’ tomb secured for at least three days. The Roman leader, Pontius Pilate, commands his guards to protect the tomb from anyone wishing to enter. They also rolled a stone in front of the tomb’s entrance to seal it, meaning they squished a lump of clay (or some soft substance) into a seam that would break if the stone was tampered with. They press an imperial Roman symbol into the clay, so that anyone looking to disrupt the seal would face the consequences of the brutal Roman government.

Imagine you are an early follower of Jesus. You have been waiting for the promised messiah your entire life. And then you heard the word of Jesus—you have spoken with him and seen his miracles, and you have come to believe that he is filled with the unending, indestructible power of God because he is the promised Messiah! But now he’s dead, crucified, murdered. You heard him talk about dying and being raised back into life, but how is that even possible? Was he just another magician? Another wandering sage peddling false promises? Your newly kindled hope in the messiah would have been snuffed out with Jesus’ execution.

Holy Saturday invites us into the experience of darkness, into the questions and grief that so often accompany this life. Where is God? Why do we experience so much pain? We thought Jesus came to rescue us, but what now?

Today, we sit in the painful darkness of Holy Saturday and find rest through knowing that, in the darkness of life, God is alive and working. In deep sorrow, God is still there. In our waiting, God has not forgotten us. He is loving us and working in his ways to restore life to each of us.

The sealed stone will not be able to hold Jesus in place. Death is not the end.

John 19:39-40

39 Nicodemus, who had previously come to Jesus at night, also brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom.

You can read the entire chapter here

Psalm 130

1 A song of ascents. Out of the depths I cry to You, O LORD! 2 O Lord, hear my voice; let Your ears be attentive to my plea for mercy. 3 If You, O LORD, kept track of iniquities, then who, O Lord, could stand? 4 But with You there is forgiveness, so that You may be feared. 5 I wait for the LORD; my soul does wait, and in His word I put my hope. 6 My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning—more than watchmen wait for the morning. 7 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is loving devotion, and with Him is redemption in abundance. 8 And He will redeem Israel from all iniquity.

Prayer* for Holy Saturday: O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

• All prayers in this reading plan are from the Book of Common Prayer (2019).