Going to Pilate, Joseph asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth
and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.
It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb
and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes.

But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment (Luke 23:52-56).

Nel vG shared this stirring, beautiful song, Indodana. Translated from the Traditional IsiXhosa, with Nel's comments:

Women:  "The Lord has taken his son who lived amongst us.  The son of the Lord God was crucified."
Men: "Hololo Father Jehovah" ("Hololo" represents crying and has no translation;  "Zjem zja" is expressive).

I find Holy Saturday (as it is called) to be such an awkward day.  How is a person even to observe it? Except for this year. Today, there is a pretty good alignment betwen the day and what's going on in our world. The queston is, how will it point us back to Jesus? 

Max Lucado, in a sermon delivered online last night, updated one of his earlier sermons entitled "The Silence of Saturday" for this year of COVID-19.  There are Fridays of despair, and Sundays of new life, he says.  And then there are silent Saturdays where we just don't know what is going on.  "For His own reasons, God inserts a Saturday between a Friday and a Sunday."  And what should our posture be on such a day as this?  To simply do as Jesus did: wait and trust. 

So how you will spend this Saturday like no other?  Why not try waiting and trusting.  New life is coming.

I look forward to being with you all in Resurrection Day worship tomorrow!  

 

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