Good Friday Evening and Holy Saturday. Saturday April 23. Lent 2011.

Friday night began preparation day for the Sabbath.

The bodies were not to remain on the cross during the Sabbath.

The soldiers had the duty of making sure the men that hung on the crosses were dead.

The soldiers went to each of the thieves and broke their legs.

With their legs now broken, the men could not press against their feet to breathe and thus died of cruel suffocation.

When the soldiers came to Jesus, they saw that He was already dead.

They did not break His legs thus fulfilling scripture.

“Not a bone of it will be broken.”

As solider thrust a lance into Jesus’ side and a combination of blood and water came flowing out.

“They will look upon him who they have pierced.”

The blood that flowed from Christ was the very blood that washed over all of our sins.

The water signified the complete and unending mercy that Jesus has toward us, regardless of our continuous sins.

Joseph of Arimathea received permission from Pilate to take the body of Jesus.

Nicodemus brought a mixture of aloe and myrrh, spices and burial clothes as was the Jewish custom.

When Jesus was taken down from the cross, His mother was given the grace to hold Her Son once again.

“on the hill of calvary
woman behold your son
she watches Him nailed to a tree
the child she bore grasps for air
a loud cry and her heart is pierced
the child she held has gone from her

His body hangs without life
they take him down from the tree
they lay him in His mother's arms
they lay him in her arms
she won't understand
why her son had to die

But she said, "Come hold my son,
Come hold my son."

The Thirsting-

Come Hold My Son

I can’t even begin to imagine the pain and grave and deep sorrow that Mary experienced on Good Friday. I think the greatest pain of all was for Her to see Her Son suffering and She can do NOTHING. There is nothing She could say or do that would change the situation and ease Her Son’s sufferings. When Jesus was placed in Her arms once He was taken down from the cross I would imagine it was the most intense moment of mixed emotions. Mary was still in sorrow and pain that Her Son had died. Yet, He was no longer suffering physical pain. She could hold Him once again but do nothing to change what had just happened. Some say that She knew exactly who Jesus was, what He had come to do, and what would soon happen but that does not take away Her motherly love and desire to care for Her Son.

Jesus was buried and laid in a tomb close by.

The stone was rolled in front of the tomb.

The Sabbath was upon them.

Holy Saturday.

For the Jews, Sabbath.

They could do nothing.

But sit.

And wait.

Despite the events that had taken place the day before, the apostles rested on the Sabbath.

They obeyed the law despite what would have been going through their minds.

I can’t even imagine how hard it would have been to rest when their minds were probably racing a million miles a minute.

Thinking back on every word Jesus had said to them

Playing back His suffering and passion from the day before

Wondering if He really was going to come back

And if so, when?

The apostles probably had to muster much self-discipline to obey the laws of the Sabbath that day.

The important thing here is that they did obey the law.

Regardless of their thoughts, feeling, and emotions they obeyed.

Regardless of what was going on inside, in their heads and hearts, they had FAITH.

Silent,

Quiet,

And obedient.

FAITH.

Maybe they weren’t exactly sure what they had faith in at the moment.

Maybe they did have their doubts.

Maybe they did have their moments where they just wanted to give up,

To stop playing the waiting game,

And to break the law on the Sabbath.

But they didn’t.

They waited in silent, quiet, and obedient faith.

And it was in this moment when their God, OUR God was working.

It is often in moments of silence when our God works.

When we finally shut up and just LISTEN to Him.

Or maybe He doesn’t have anything to say but that we are open to Him.

That we have the faith that He knows what He is doing, even if it is complete silence.

There are moments in our lives when we are communicating with other people when the most effective and correct response to their words is silence.

It is in the silence and the stillness and the peace that our God does great things.

Help us to be silent and filled with peace on this Holy Saturday as we wait for our Lord.

Help us to have silent faith in our lives when we need it most.