"The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and
the Pharisees went to Pilate and said, "We remember that while He was
still alive that deceiver said,' After three days I will rise again",
so the order was given to make the tomb secure until the third
day....so they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the
stone and posting the guard."
- Matt. 27:57-66
Holy Saturday is not a day for physical labor. It is a day for silence,
a day for not much talking. If we keep Holy Saturday in silence, the
quietness, the stillness will produce a profound awe in us worthy of
the day. Holy Saturday is the day Christ lay dead, His body wrapped in
the traditional winding sheets the ancients used to honor their dead.
His eyes are closed, unseeing, His lips also unspeaking; His hands
touch no one. He who is the Word of God from eternity, made flesh and
come among us lies unmoving, unbreathing, silent.
Holy Saturday brings us the silence of God and because it is God's
Christ who lies dead, the silence speaks with words which pierce us all
the way to the heart. It is a message about . . .
"The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate and said, "We remember that while He was still alive that deceiver said,' After three days I will rise again", so the order was given to make the tomb secure until the third day....so they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard."
- Matt. 27:57-66
Holy Saturday is not a day for physical labor. It is a day for silence, a day for not much talking. If we keep Holy Saturday in silence, the quietness, the stillness will produce a profound awe in us worthy of the day. Holy Saturday is the day Christ lay dead, His body wrapped in the traditional winding sheets the ancients used to honor their dead. His eyes are closed, unseeing, His lips also unspeaking; His hands touch no one. He who is the Word of God from eternity, made flesh and come among us lies unmoving, unbreathing, silent.
Holy Saturday brings us the silence of God and because it is God's Christ who lies dead, the silence speaks with words which pierce us all the way to the heart. It is a message about who we are. Our hands are not that far from the human hands that drove the nails. Our throats are no strangers to the throats that shouted, "Crucify Him!" Our minds are not different from the minds that plotted and schemed. Our hearts are not different from the hearts that burned with wanton ambition and chilling fear.
The silence of Holy Saturday also tells us who God is. There He lies. His sacrifice is complete. He gave everything He had to reach us. Listen to His silence, for it sings with a searching love that will not let us go, a reaching, seeking love that knows no rebuff and honors no rejection. The silence of Holy Saturday is a peacemaker.
Here we rest this day in wonder, viewing
All our sins on Jesus laid,
And a full redemption flowing
From the sacrifice He made.
PRAY - Lord Jesus Christ, help us to hear well the silence of Holy Saturday and find Your peace.