Waiting with Hindsight

How do you spend the day between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday?

For the disciples, and for Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, we just don’t know. The Bible does not tell us much about what they did. Luke says in Luke 23:56; Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

So we know they went somewhere - often suggested to be the Upper Room where they celebrated Passover and rested. I would suggest that this Sabbath would be different because it would be filled with grief, loss, and longing.

Many of us know that feeling, in the days after a loved one dies, the shock, followed by confusion, the doubts, the fears, and trying to figure out how life will go on without that person in your life. Sometimes it hits quick and hard - and others we steel ourselves to be strong for those around us and never give ourselves permission to grieve - because we need to be the strong one.

Maybe all those and more were part of the Upper Room conversations and cries - we just do not know....

Matthew records how the religious leaders reacted in Matthew 27:62–66; The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.

CYB - Cover your butt! The Pharisees not only knew what Jesus meant when He said He would raise this temple in 3 days - they wanted to make certain that it didn’t happen - and convinced Pilate that it was in his interest to make certain as well.

And then silence....

No more words, actions, thoughts… It was the Sabbath - and so they sat and sabbathed and sat.

We know they were not emotionless - that would have gone against culture and all we know about Peter and the Sons of Thunder, etc... We can only imagine their tears and their laughter as they shared cherished memories of their time spent with Jesus.

Was it like a good, old, Irish Wake where the laughter masks the pain and the celebration covers the loss?

We can only guess....

I was thinking about the absence of the gospel writers to share the intimacy of the upper room amidst the communion of broken hearted disciples who were desperately trying to figure out how things could have gone so quickly and horribly wrong.

That thought quickly led to another....

We celebrate Good Friday, with hindsight, watching the Passion of the Christ, walking the stations of the Cross, reading devotions, pondering scripture, in prayer...

We celebrate Easter or Resurrection Day with meals, family, egg hunts, brightly colored eggs and just as brightly colored clothes, knowing He Has Risen! He Has Risen Indeed!

Yet, on the Silent Saturday, how will we remember.

With hindsight this day can often seem meaningless. Just a day of chores, preparation for the family meal - although this year it might look a little different, finish some things on the “Honey, Do...” List.

• We know the outcome so do we lack the empathy to grieve, mourn with the disciples?

• We know the outcome, so do we celebrate Sunday without the emptiness of Saturday?

Maybe, for us, celebrating in hindsight is to remember another tomb. The one we found ourselves in as a result of our own sin and shame To remember today, your testimony, your salvation! To consider, what has Jesus saved me from and where has He taken me, and where will we go in the future as He continues this good work in me...

So in the silence, remember, your tomb, and the Spirit of the Living God that helped you to pass over from death to life. As you remember, celebrate, because Sunday is still coming and it will be a Glorious Day