“I cannot even begin to imagine.”
It’s a response I’ve gotten used to as someone who writes about grief and feels it often. It’s all said with good intentions, of course, a nod to the gravity of the situation, but mostly, what I want to say in return is, “Yes, of course you can.” This life hurts, certainly we have all felt that.
There’s peripheral grief, the pain we find in tweets and headlines, feeling the loss of someone we once knew or will never meet. It’s the kind we pass through like a hospital hallway, guilty to be leaving so obviously whole, and yet, so unmistakably broken.
There’s nearby grief, sympathy pangs for the people we love and would trade places with in an instant. If only it could be us, we could tend to our own wounds and know exactly where it hurt. But instead, we visit, we sit, we wait, we do our best.
Then there’s intimate grief, the deep aches that shape us and never leave us the same. This kind ushers us into an entirely new reality, where we wonder if we’ll ever find joy again. And at the same time, we also question if we’d even want to, if we deserve to.
Holy Saturday—the day between Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection—invites us into all three dimensions of grief, a display of just how heartbreaking this life can be. After Jesus’s death, we see the silent doubts of onlookers in the crowd, feel the loss experienced by His closest disciples, and intimately grieve Our Father’s separation from His Son. With all of this obvious pain, it’s no wonder we’re hesitant to believe the good-news promises that have been made to us. And yet, here’s the most important part of today’s reading:
The next day, which followed the preparation day, the chief priests
and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said,
“Sir, we remember that while this deceiver was still alive he said,
‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give orders that the tomb be made secure
until the third day” (Matthew 27:62–64).
Although the scene was full of grief and doubt, the tomb was still secured by guards. While they said they were afraid His followers would steal His body, part of me wants to believe there’s a bigger truth at play here: Even those who opposed Jesus believed there was a chance He would keep His promises.
Regardless of whether we feel grief coming at us from all sides, or we don’t feel able to believe that God is who He says He is, the resurrection still comes. Easter still happens. Jesus offers the kind of mercy I cannot even begin to imagine or understand. Thanks be to God, whose faithfulness is good and whose promises are true. Amen.
Leave a Reply
51 thoughts on "Holy Saturday"
Such a well written devotional that resonates with my soul! Thank you.
Easter always happens. Amen.
Amen.
Although this Easter will be altered we know one thing to be true. Joy comes in the morning.
Tina and Churchmouse thanks for the hope filled words. I will be copying them so I can reread them over the coming days, weeks and months.
Maura hallelujah and amen.
Pam G. Williams thanks for sharing the poem loved it.
Thank You Jesus for everything
THANK YOU, ASHLEY P., I TOO HAVE BEEN IN A PATTERN OF WAITING THESE LAST 3 YEARS, AS GOD STRIPPED AWAY A LOT OF WHAT “MADE ME, ME”. HE HAS REVEALED SOME THINGS, AND YET AS WE GO THROUGH TRIAL AFTER TRIAL, AND LIFE SEEMS TO STAY ON HOLD, I’M STILL IN ESSENCE , WAITING. HE’S SHOWING ME THAT I NEED TO STAY IN THE NOW, JUST SIMPLY TRUSTING HIM FOR EACH NEW FOOTSTEP AS HE LIGHTS UP MY PATH. I DON’T HAVE TO FIGURE IT OUT (VERY DIFFICULT FOR A MULTI-TASKING PLANNER. HE HAS FREED ME FROM MUCH OF THAT. A LATE LESSON FOR A 73 YEAR OLD . THANK YOU, JESUS, THAT YOU NEVER WASH YOUR HANDS OF US, BUT CONTINUALLY REMIND US OF YOUR SACRIFICIAL LOVE….SO UNDESERVED.
I wish I had seen and heard this on Thursday, the occasion of the Last Supper and Christ’s betrayal. I watched a Maudy Thursday service where this old poem from the 11thC. was set to music. the paradoxes of the words were so moving that I want to share it here:
THIS IS THE NIGHT by Peter Abilard (11th C)
This is the night, dear friends, the night for weeping,
When powers of darkness overcome the day,
The night the faithful mourn the weight of evil
Whereby our sins the Son of Man betray.
This night the traitor, wolf within the sheepfold,
Betrays himself into his victim’s will,
The Lamb of God for sacrifice preparing;
Sin brings about the cure for sin’s own ill.
This night Christ institutes his holy supper,
Blest food and drink for heart and soul and mind;
This night injustice joins its hand to treason’s,
And buys the ransom price of humankind.
This night the Lord by slaves shall be arrested,
He who destroys our slavery to sin;
Accused of crime, to criminals be given,
That judgment on the righteous Judge begin.
O make us sharers, Savior, of your Passion,
That we may share your glory that shall be;
Let us pass through these three dark nights of sorrow
To Easter’s laughter and its liberty.
❤️
wow, I love this poem. thank you for sharing!
Dorothy, I share with you in your mourning and in your joy. I’m praying for everyone. God give you peace and strength in your season. ❤️ God is good.
Maybe I’m just more ready than normal for Easter this year, but as I read the passage from Matthew 27 today, I couldn’t help but feel the stirrings of Christ’s victory. I love how with God there is always more going on than meets the eye. God does some of His best work behind the scenes. Lord, give us spiritual eyes to see your hand in the world and in our lives!
It struck me in today’s reading how the women observed where Jesus was buried and then prepared spices to anoint his body but by the time they had finished, it was Sabbath and they needed to rest and wait to anoint his body. I wonder how they must’ve felt, the sorrow and emotional turmoil at being ready to anoint their Lord but having to wait with their prepared perfumes sitting there, untouched. It must’ve been an incredibly hard day of waiting for them. I feel like I’ve been in a season of waiting and quiet that has been taken to a whole new level as world wide, we are all now experiencing it due to this pandemic. I’m considering how the way the women felt in their waiting and longing may be similar to our own feelings right now—yet, on that Holy Saturday when it seemed like Jesus was gone and hope was lost, Jesus was really crushing the power of sin and death out of his great love for us. I can have hope, even in the quiet waiting, that God is at work and He is victorious. Easter will come. Our Lord lives!
I love to think that even the Pharisees thought that maybe Jesus would keep his promise and rise from the dead. It’s so tragic that many of them still refused to believe in him, even with all of the prophecies he fulfilled and all the miracles he performed. It just shows that our expectations can really blind us to the truth. I pray we would allow God to soften our hearts so we can experience his truth, even if it’s different than what we had envisioned.
Dorothy, my dear sister.. I am so very very sorry for your loss..
My heart hurts with yours as you grieve the loss of your niece…
God..
He also grieves with you, holds you and your family close, and collects your tears. He walks with you, and knows your hearts cry. Dear Dorothy, lifting you and yours up in prayer for peace of heart, mind and body.. He is near to the broken hearted, He is near..
Will continue to hold you up in prayer.. sending love wrapped hugs and prayers…xx
So thankful for the reflections here. Our Jesus in His amazing grace and incredible love laid down His life and took my sin. But God, indeed Tina. Praise God for salvation that reaches out to us and pulled us from our own tombs into Eternity, for in having forgiveness and salvation we have truly been resurrected by the Savior. Can I raise a Hallelujah!
Hallelujah!!!
“While they said they were afraid His followers would steal His body, part of me wants to believe there’s a bigger truth at play here: Even those who opposed Jesus believed there was a chance He would keep His promises.”
Amen Kaitlin! This was an amazing revelation to me this morning, that even the ones that betrayed Jesus still had a small part in their heart that believed in Jesus, whether they realized it or not!!
HIS promises are True. I (we) hold onto that promise! I too, (as many of you here do as well) know grief. But joy does come in the morning. It may take longer than a weekend but it does come.
Yesterday late afternoon my college-aged son rushed into the living room where my daughter and I were sitting. He was beside himself crying. He had woken up from a nap, the sky was gloomy and the house was silent. We all know that these days streets are empty and it’s more quiet around our neighborhoods.
He broke down and told my daughter and I that the way the lighting was in his room (gloomy), the silence, he thought Jesus had come and didn’t take him! MY HEART!!
I reassured him since he did make a commitment to follow Jesus that HIS promise stands true. It’s normal to doubt BUT GOD keeps His promises. Sunday is coming!
I just thought I would share that. I know these times are hard for young people.
I never realized how wild it was that they gave Jesus a ‘proper’ and respectful burial. Most ‘criminals’ bodies were simply tossed somewhere following crucifixion, never given a proper burial. But for Joseph, not even a family member, to boldly ask for Jesus body and then to give such a respectful burial is yet another radical and crazy aspect of the Easter story I never realized!
To Robin Mower from yesterday’s post: I appreciate your heart to love each other even though we may not believe “exactly” the same doctrine. I agree with you that there are secondary issues that we, within the body of Christ, will have differences. My intent in yesterday’s post was of concern for those whose beliefs are not of the sound doctrine of the essentials of the faith. My heart is this place is to obey our Lord’s instruction through John as he wrote “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out from the world.. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God” (1 John 4:1-2). I don’t speak of the “rebellious and hard of heart” with a self-righteous view. I was (and still have in me a remnant of) rebellion and a hard heart. I was blind to the deceptions of these false beliefs that many around me were speaking, but in his mercy the Lord opened my eyes to see there is a need for sound doctrine which disputes the false teaching. Jesus and the apostles warned us over and over again to beware of these falsehoods. My intent in sharing about this is because I know the pain of being deceived and I truly want to see others saved out of the deceptions of so many false belief systems. I write these words with tears and a deep ache in my heart because I truly want the truth to be embraced. I hope this clarifies my heart a bit better on this matter. And I, too, love the ladies of SRT with many prayers!
Thank You Jesus ❤️
I pray that my heart be melted to what Jesus did for me on the cross. To humble me to His love for me. My prayers are to love my Lord with all my heart, soul and might, that it will overwhelm me to the point to be broken, that I will serve Him with my whole heart, soul and mind. Forgive me my Dear Lord Jesus for all my sins and short comings. In my Lords Name! Amen!
Erin, this morning when I got out of bed, I had this same prayer on my heart — praying for my husband’s spiritually hard heart along with those in like marriages. I can see my prayers are mingling with yours and that is a hope and a blessing! Reading of how the chief priests and the Pharisees obviously heard, but not believed, that Jesus had declared he would be raised from the dead, I think of the many times my husband has heard the gospel story yet doesn’t show signs of true belief yet. He, like your husband, clams up when I attempt to approach spiritual conversations. Yes, the waiting is hard, yet my prayers persist that the Lord will have mercy on him and other husbands, wives, children, siblings, parents, friends of whom we love and desire to be saved.
Wow, I am amazed once again at how God knows what I need to hear, when I need to hear it and can say what in a way I need to hear it. Kaitlin Wernet really spoke to my heart today with this devotional. It is just unbelievable how God puts the person or thing in the right place at the right time. Our study of Jeremiah during this COVID-19 outbreak and stay at home orders. This devotional about grief when I am going through the grief of the lose of my niece. This week the devotions about hope when I needed hope to get through not just my grief of the lose of my niece but of wrecking my car. But as I have been told before “it’s a God thing.” I know God and Christ have my back and are there for me and I can turn to them but I just want to say “but God why.” When I say that I hear my father’s voice in my ear saying, “He has a reason for everything. We may not find out right away what it is but He does have a reason.” I found out from my sister Thursday that my niece had joined a church in West Virginia where her boyfriend lived and where she lived part of the time. That made me so happy because after my son’s death she had strayed from the church. The Last Rights were given on Thursday before she was cremated. Christ died for me, my niece and everyone. I know I will see her and my son again one day in Heaven but it is still hard. I will end the way Kaitlin ended her devotion, “Thanks be to God, whose faithfulness is good and whose promises are true. Amen.”
Resting and waiting like the Galilean women is hard, but is absolutely what my heart needs today. My Husband needs this so badly. Funny because he is a professing believer and an active member in our church— but his heart is hard. I mourn that so much this morning, because he can only partially see it, and when he does he just clams up. Lord, I pray over all of the husbands and families represented here reading SRT, that you would grab our families and husbands by the heart, and remind us that it’s not our job to drag them to you. Jesus would you come alongside my husband (and any others struggling) and remind them of who you are, even on dark days— you have overcome the world!
I echo your prayers. My husband was also given a large cut in pay yesterday and I’m praying it will turn his heart towards our Savior.
Good morning, sisters! This Holy Saturday is always a strange day to me, but even stranger this year. I do love to think about everyone- everyone- thinking it just might be true. Seal that tomb, just in case. Even as we are sealed into our homes these days, God’s love, His mercy, His grace breaks through. He is stronger than any stone, any locked door, any virus. He will bring us through this. Hope, sisters. Faith & hope. Tomorrow at 7AM Central Standard Time, I invite you to my church’s Sunrise Service. It’ll be on FUMCmontgomery.org – on the website & on Facebook live. Because we are expecting bad weather here in Alabama, it was pre-recorded this week. My daughter is the soloist. She has been going to church to rehearse & to record the service. That has been a strange experience for this mom-worrying about my child going to church! I believe the Lord has shielded and protected her as He used her to bless others with the gift of song He has given her. So, for a lovely message of hope, you are invited to my church tomorrow morning…on your sofa! Blessings, sisters. Happy Easter.
❤️❤️
Promise Keeper, He is the ultimate Promise Keeper. Today’s the day for me to solidify this truth in my soul to strengthen my faith, my resolve. To fall more in love than I thought possible with my savior, my Promise Keeper.
The already and the not yet. Silent Saturday looks a lot like our world today. We’ve been redeemed, but it’s not yet finished. There is grief but also great anticipation. May we be like the women from Galilee, honoring Gods word and being still, even if we long to rush headlong to meet our King.
Thank you Kara for your profound words of hope and wisdom
I really loved the thought that perhaps those who crucified Jesus thought/feared that what He promised might become a reality. Remember, even the demons recognized Him!
“Jesus offers the kind of mercy I cannot even begin to imagine or understand. Thanks be to God, whose faithfulness is good and whose promises are true. Amen.” He is risen indeed!
Isaiah 53:12, “Therefore I will give him the many as a portion,
and he will receive the mighty as spoil,
because he willingly submitted to death,
and was counted among the rebels;
yet he bore the sin of many
and interceded for the rebels.” ❤️
Isaiah 53. Amen and amen!
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him, all creatures here below
Praise him above, ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Amen
Dorothy I am praying for you. God’s mercies are new every morning. Hold on to Him today and He will see you through this day to tomorrow. Then He will give even more grace and mercy to carry you through this horrible time.
I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will never die.
Amen!
This day is referred to as “silent Saturday.” Jesus is in the tomb. The stone is in place. The soldiers stand watch. It is the Sabbath. All non – essential activity has ceased (does that sound familiar?). The crucifixion is in the past. The Resurrection is in the future. How best to spend this present day? The chief priests and Pharisees actually give a clue to the answer. They are spending this silent Saturday reflecting on what Jesus had said, the promise He had spoken. Should we not do the same? In this waiting time, between the past and the future, it is the right time to recall His promises. The present is always the right time to recall His promises. Therein lies Truth and Hope. Truth and Hope gives us the strength to get through silent Saturdays. Truth and Hope get us through the present reality. And don’t we always need both? Ahhh, our Savior is both. Sshh. Listen. He is whispering it from the tomb. And He will shout it on Sunday!
❤️
Beautiful, Churchmouse! Sunday’s coming!
This season feels like the longest Saturday ever, doesn’t it? Thank you for the reminder that now is the time to recall and declare His promises, and to cling to Truth and Hope. Sunday IS coming!
Love this!
❤️
♥️
❤️
Thank you Tina for your incredible words, Happy Easter! I too count sleeps
I have known sorrow.
I have known hope dashed, to a floor dropping magnitude.
I have known and written many, many a time about’how do I go on’
I have walked in dispair, been lost, confused.
I have walked the journey of hope lost.
But God…
Dear, Wonderful, Promise keeping God…
Selah.. I pause at the thought of His promises kept..
Hope, is my favourite word.. has been for a long time..
My journey did take longer than three days.
The promise is not the length of time, but that Hope, is coming, IS HERE, and that not even a boulder sized covering, can stop that HOPE from being raised..
These days, yes, even in these uncertain times..
I rejoice, in the small and the big, even in these times
I am hope filled, because I know He holds the future.., and Life is worth the living, just because He lives…Amen
I am still here, and that is okay.. Gods got my past safe and secure..
Hope keeps me focused, I am not lost, but am found, and though sometimes life can be a little murky, my clear vision is Jesus..
Jesus, promises to never leave nor forsake me, I am never alone, though it may sometimes feel like it..
In short.. But God..
Jesus, is my Hope. I have the advantage of knowing this through the Word and a relationship with God, but the first disciples… All must have just seemed lost..
Thankful that Sunday is coming.
One more sleep..
Praying you are Hope-filled for tomorrow…
Sunday is coming!❤
❤️
So good. Thank you, Tina ❤️
❤️