Holy Saturday

Ssshhhhhhh…..  

Can you hear it?

Can you hear the silence this morning?

Yesterday the mob jeered, Jesus' mother wept.  

“Crucify Him!  Give us Barabbas!”

“If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross! Save yourself!”

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing….”

Open your heart and listen.  Can you hear the scraping of the stone as it rolled over the entrance to the tomb?  Can you hear the soldiers’ rude jests as they mocked the crucified one, mocked those who followed them to the tomb?  Can you hear it?

This morning, the weeping continues.  It is the Sabbath and all is still in the Jewish houses.  There is no work today. No embalming of the beloved.  No creeping back to the tomb to wait.  No wonder Mary went early on Sunday. She had been waiting for two days.  She could hardly contain herself!

Listen to the mumbling of the disciples.  “Will they arrest us?  Do they recognize us?  How long will they allow us to hide here before putting US on a cross…. like him?”

“I’m going fishing, pretend this was all a bad dream.”

“How could he have allowed them to crucify him?  We saw him heal the blind, cast out demons!  Surely he could have disappeared until the heat was off!  But he just gave himself up (come to think of it, he told us he was going to do that).  WHY?  WHY?”

“And what about me?  I feel like a total fool!  I followed him for three years, listened to his teachings…  Do those even mean anything now?”

Sssshhhhhhh…. 

Can you hear the echos in your own heart?

“I thought I would be farther along by now.  Where are the rivers of Living Waters?”

“Why doesn’t Jesus heal her?  I pray and pray but nothing seems to improve.  What if I get sick and can’t care for her anymore?”

“Why do I keep losing my temper?  I go along so well for awhile and  it’s like I get ambushed— I just lose it!  I know it’s wrong but I can’t control it.  Why doesn’t God take it away like I beg Him to do?”

“If God is so good, how can He let so many people suffer?”

“Oh God…WHERE ARE YOU?????”

In the silence of your desperate Saturday, God hears your lament.

You are not the first one, or the last, to ask God those questions.  Hear David’s anguish:

Psalm 88

1O Lord, God of my salvation,

I have cried out day and night before You.

2 Let my prayer come before You;

Incline Your ear to my cry.

3 For my soul is full of troubles,

And my life draws near to the grave.

4 I am counted with those who go down to the pit;

I am like a man who has no strength,

5 Adrift among the dead,

Like the slain who lie in the grave,

Whom You remember no more,

And who are cut off from Your hand.

6 You have laid me in the lowest pit,

In darkness, in the depths.

7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me,

And You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah

8 You have put away my acquaintances far from me;

You have made me an abomination to them;

I am shut up, and I cannot get out;

9 My eye wastes away because of affliction.

Lord, I have called daily upon You;

I have stretched out my hands to You.

10 Will You work wonders for the dead?

Shall the dead arise and praise You? Selah

11 Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave?

Or Your faithfulness in the place of destruction?

12 Shall Your wonders be known in the dark?

And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

13 But to You I have cried out, O Lord,

And in the morning my prayer comes before You.

14 Lord, why do You cast off my soul?

Why do You hide Your face from me?

15 I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth;

I suffer Your terrors;  I am distraught.

16 Your fierce wrath has gone over me;

Your terrors have cut me off.

17 They came around me all day long like water;

They engulfed me altogether.

18 Loved one and friend You have put far from me,

And my acquaintances into darkness.

Maybe you have wandered in this dark place for weeks, months, maybe even years.  The Holy Saturday of your soul.

Saturday is not a time to give up, though.  

David was inconsolable. He felt abandoned, deserted, angry and hurt.

The disciples thought it was over, the glory days of Jesus’ life on earth were over. It was a delusion.  They had been lied to by a dreamer, or worse, a deceiver or a lunatic. But still they loved him.  Someday, when they got over being hurt, they would evenmourn for him, but not yet.  Not with Roman soldiers about to break down the door.

What they didn’t know— didn’t remember Him saying— was that Sunday was about to dawn and change everything, forever.  But it was still Saturday.  

Listen again…. sshhhhh…… 

Can you hear your breath as it draws in and out?

The Holy Spirit, the Comforter is working in there.  You really aren’t alone.

Unlike the disciples that day, or like David 100’s of years before, we are the temple of the Living God!  

So let’s be silent together today.  Let’s surrender to the process, because God is at work in the dark.  We fellowship with Him in our suffering so that we can share in His Resurrection.

10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.  Philippians 3: 10,11)

We’re almost there.