Holy Saturday
Open Your Bible
Matthew 27:62-66, Luke 23:54-56, Isaiah 53:8-12
BY Oghosa Iyamu
Scripture Reading: Matthew 27:62-66, Luke 23:54-56, Isaiah 53:8-12
There is something so breath-taking about sunsets. Would you agree? A sunset has the ability to capture the day’s narrative with silky, smokey-sorbet colored lines in the sky. Or maybe you favor sunrises. How darkness gives way to dawn, singing awake every living thing with the promise of God’s magnificent mercies, never failing and always new.
But do we marvel and consider beautiful the time in-between the sun setting and sun rising? Do we consider it set apart and worth beholding? Not blazing with exquisite colors, but the steady sacredness of mundane, constant, and ordinary—the life in between.
Life in the in-between is where we find ourselves in today’s reading. It’s Holy Saturday, the shadowy time in between the Son entering the tomb and being raised on Resurrection Sunday. Today’s solemn in-between doesn’t appear beautiful. It doesn’t feel holy and sacred. It’s the day after a gruesome tragedy, quiet with shock, hazy with clouds of grief. The long-awaited, now crucified Messiah lay in a borrowed tomb with a stone rolled over it.
Imagine for a moment how His followers and disciples must have felt in the raw in-between. From their perspective, everything was dark. They could not see the resurrection hope peaking above the horizon. Fearful and confused, in the grip of grief while holding on to a vague hope, they may have wondered, Was following Jesus worth it? Did I waste these years? What was this for?
And yet, in the midst of their questions and lament, Scripture tells us,
“The women who had come with him from Galilee followed along and observed the tomb and how his body was placed. Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment” (Luke 23:55–56).
They rested. They didn’t busy the silence of heartache away, they honored what was sacred in the uncertain in-between.
What about you and me? Do we rest amid the doubts, the questions, the waiting and uncertainity? Do we rest in the in-between, when we can’t yet see hope rising from the darkness––the anxiety, depression, loss, illness, loneliness––that has set in our lives?
To rest reminds us that the coming light doesn’t rest on us. It’s the invitation of our text today. And it’s an invitation for the confused and fully convinced, for the doubtful and determined, for the wanderer and the wanting. It’s an invitation for you and for me, to fully live in the in-between, even if our hope feels but vague. Because even a vague hope can lead us to rest.
So as we wait to behold history’s most glorious Son rise tomorrow, I pray we don’t miss the opportunity to marvel in the holy in-between.
Written by Oghosa Iyamu
42 thoughts on "Holy Saturday"
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So much of life is spent waiting, in the in-between. What a beautiful thought to focus on today. Those in-between times require us to draw upon our faith.
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The message of resting and marveling in the in-between was exactly what I needed to hear today. I am recovering from foot surgery and woke up this morning feeling anxious and unsettled with the stillness of this season. But I know this is part of a purposeful season of rest that the Lord intends to use for my good and His glory. So as I cease trying to busy the silence away, I will marvel at His goodness during this Holy in-between time! God is good!!
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Believe, Abide, Hope, Wait, Worship & Rest. Lord, we do not know what to do, but we look to you.
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It may be something simple but it has never struck me so much as it did today that when the women followed Jesus‘s body to the tomb it was still Friday before sunset. They would have then gone home, mixed spices, and stopped their work before the Sabbath began at sunset. Today is the Jewish Sabbath. This is a day of spiritual faith, reflection, praise, and forgiveness. We are not merely waiting. It is a day of expectancy and hope!
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Like so many other She’s I was blessed by the “in between” comments in today’s devotional. Such a beautiful perspective. I’ve been struggling with an upcoming talk about anxiety that I am supposed to lead soon and today for the first time a connection and order to my many thoughts finally presented itself. I love the wisdom and practical applications I always find here.
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Hi She’s! Hi Victoria, good to see you! Prayers for you! (Still wish we could see the little sweet miracle!)
I have watched The Chosen every night leading up to Easter, and it is portrayed so well, the disciples and the Pharisees, and all the stories we know and love. The scene where Nicodemus meets with Jesus last night brought goosebumps and tears to both my husband and me. I didn’t realize Nicodemus was one of the two, in the verse we read the other day referred to that buried Jesus’ body until someone pointed it out on here. Wow. He knew He was the Messiah. I highly recommend that you all watch the series. There are two seasons. There was also the scene where all the disciples were discussing and trying to wrap their mind about everything in respect to being “chosen” and the why and what of it all. Very thought provoking. I am in awe that we have all these very words from them some 2000 years later to read at our disposal in the Bible! How did I ever think the Bible was boring? Now I relish it and absorb it like oxygen. I need it, my daily manna, my light in the darkness.
I too can remember my “in the waiting” very clearly. I was devastated when my husband of 2.5 years said he didn’t want to be in the marriage any longer, and crushed my dream. I thought I had the perfect little family with our precious 2-year-old son. Nope. It was over. And what could I do? I felt despair, shame, failure, unloved, and fear. I hit my knees, cried out to God. I just couldn’t get my life right, failure again. But this time I knew God had me..finally. I am stubborn. I didn’t want to give up control. But now I could, I was so tired. Then the waiting came-the in-between. But in that waiting is where the faith comes in! The growing, the mending, the wisdom. It takes time, God’s timing to make you over, born again, a child of God. Yes I had grown up a Christian, loving God, but now it was a relationship with the Lord. Sometimes He has to get our stubborn attention, to make us look up and rely on HIM. I am so, so grateful that He keeps trying to bring us in. I prayed and waited patiently (somewhat patiently!) to see where God would take me and what He would bring me. The man of my prayer journals I longed for came in and swooped me up like a fairytale 15 years ago!
Prayers for you Mari V. I remember your posts from 6 years ago! Lots of love and prayers. For all of you! The waiting is all most over!
Happy Easter, the Day of our Risen Saviour! Hallelujah!
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Sssh. Today is silent Saturday. This is the day when the crucifixion of Jesus sinks in for all those involved. Those at the foot of the cross, the few female followers including His mother, the Roman soldiers and curious onlookers. The Pharisees back at the Temple, congratulating themselves on being rid of the troublemaker from Nazareth. The disciples gathering in the upper room, trying to process all that happened and recalling all He had said. It is a silent Saturday because Jesus has nothing more to say and noting more to do. Until…sssh… tomorrow.
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Also after reading some more comments I felt I should share- this time last year we were about to go through our own “in between”. We had finally conceived our first baby after a while of trying and I was beyond excited, however right after Easter we learned it was a chemical pregnancy and I was devastated. I didn’t know then that this time the next year God would bless us with a healthy baby, and I was afraid it would never happen. Honestly I think I still struggle with the sadness of that time even with the amazing blessing God gave us right after. But I learned so much about God and having an actual relationship with him through struggling through the “in between time”.
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