Holy Saturday

"The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid...On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment." Luke 23:55 - 56

The Saturday after Jesus' death was the worst Sabbath day in history. In less than twenty-four hours Jesus had been arrested and executed. The disciples who fled in fear in the garden where most likely hiding in the same locked room where Jesus would find them Sunday. Saturday was a hopeless day, a day of shock.

Three years earlier the disciples had left everything they had to follow Jesus (Matthew 19:27). Now everything was over. Jesus was gone and no one expected him to return. They had nothing. At some point they must have asked themselves, "What are we going to do?" Every dream of Jesus being king was dashed and fear of their own imprisonment or death had set in (John 20:19). As a follower of Jesus they knew their future could easily follow the same path as their master. So they waited. Without hope, full of fear, they waited.

I think the angst of hopeless waiting is necessary to feel the joy of Easter. Without the resurrection of Jesus there is no hope. Without the resurrection of Jesus all that waits is a traitors death. There is no joy, hope, love, or restoration without the resurrection. Without Jesus every human being is hopelessly separated from and under the judgement of God. Without the resurrection we, like the disciples, are left with nothing but fear. Tonight spend some time thinking about your sin and how without Jesus, without the resurrection, you have nothing. When we see that, Sunday morning, resurrection morning, will be joy and life to us!