Holy Week: Saturday

Love Was In the Silence

On Good Friday, the whole earth felt God’s unmistakable grief, His great agony and sorrow as Jesus breathed “It is finished.” The massive veil of the Holy of Holies in the Temple was torn from the top down to the ground, opening up to the sky. God roared His thunderous voice across the skies, hiding the sun from all life and leaving darkness across the universe. The earth shook violently and boulders cracked open. Even graves broke open!

³⁹ And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. ⁴⁰ Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury. ⁴¹ Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. ⁴² So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby. ~ John 19:29-42

AND THEN CAME SATURDAY.

Silence. An eerie calm.

Jesus’ body is in the grave. A great stone blocks the entrance. Two Roman Centurions guard the grave as well.

Nothing is stirring.

The air is heavy with grief. Shock. Confusion. Fear.

It seems like NO one is breathing.

The disciples were in hiding, fearful that they might be arrested next, or even crucified.

But Jesus’ spirit was not idle.  Scripture tells us that Jesus descended into the” realm of the dead” to proclaim the gospel.

“…good tidings were proclaimed to the dead” (I Peter 4:6)

“[Christ] descended into the lower parts of the earth” (Ephesians 4:9)

Jesus truly did die for ALL, even those souls who were already dead in their sins before He arrived. He died for all of us, past, present, and future.

I feel certain that the disciples, the women, all His followers, spent the day pondering and  meditating, along with their mourning, trying to remember every moment with Him, soaking up all the beauty and wisdom of the time they had spent with Him.

They must have had so many questions with no answers. Except, if they had really understood some of the things Jesus warned them about, some things could have been answered.

Unlike those followers, we know what happened next. But like them, we tend to have selective hearing at times and practice avoidance rather than hear truth that is uncomfortable.

If we are going to fully experience the depths of what Jesus did for us, we will also use this day to fix our mind and heart on Jesus. Ponder the parables, lean into the lessons. Ask the hard questions about ourselves: what is true from what we want to be true? What does Jesus desire from us today?

Then bask in the sweet aroma of His presence, and give thanks.

Praise Him. Worship Him. Thank Him. Surrender to Him.

Because Love was in the Silence, too.

Tetelestai …