Holy Saturday

It is Saturday of Holy Week.  Holy Saturday.  It marks the full day in which the body of Jesus inhabited a borrowed tomb.  It is quiet.  In the course of the biblical narrative it is a time of resignation, grief and sorrow.  Some of those who followed Jesus spent this Sabbath day at rest, but also making plans to return to the tomb as soon as the Law would permit, so that they could properly tend to the corpse of Jesus.  It is not yet the first day of the week.  It is not Sunday yet.  Easter will come, as we know.  But living in the continuity of the description, this is not a day of rejoicing.

The Revised Common Lectionary reflects this in its suggested readings for the day.  The First Lesson is from Job 14 

‘A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble,

   comes up like a flower and withers,

   flees like a shadow and does not last.

The alternate reading is from Lamentations 3.  It includes:

 I am one who has seen affliction

   under the rod of God’s wrath;

he has driven and brought me

   into darkness without any light;

against me alone he turns his hand,

   again and again, all day long.

The reading from the Psalter is Psalm 31.  It reads in part,

You are indeed my rock and my fortress;

   for your name’s sake lead me and guide me,

take me out of the net that is hidden for me,

   for you are my refuge.

My times are in your hand;

   deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.

Let your face shine upon your servant;

   save me in your steadfast love.

The gospel lessons are Matthew 27 & John 19.  They recount the claiming of Jesus’ body from Pontius Pilate and the entombment of Jesus.

The readings, each in its own way, reflects the solemnity of the day.  There is resignation, hopelessness and despair.  Even the claim of hope in spots sounds like whistling in the dark in the face of these hours.

There is hope to come.  There is joy in the morning.

But not yet.