Holy Saturday Meditation

 Waiting is not one of my qualities.  I get panicky too quickly and if I have to add a period of waiting to my already restless state, my anxiety level goes through the roof instantaneously.  Usually, when I'm nervous and I have to wait, I make myself busy.  I do something.  I find work to occupy my mind and distract myself long enough until the waiting period is over.

Thinking about waiting and Holy Saturday, I tell you, I don't know how the Apostles and all those who loved Jesus and followed Him to the tomb managed it.  

53 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. 54 It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. 56 Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. Luke 23: 53-56

Can you imagine that Sabbath day?  After all the horrific events that started after Passover on Thursday, all through Good Friday...to then land on the Sabbath to rest.  REST?!  Who could possible rest after all that had happened?!  My mind would be racing.  My heartrate would be uncontrollable.  My blood pressure would be about to explode! REST!  There is NO way I could calm down enough to rest.  I would not be able to make my mind settle long enough to remember to sit down and do nothing for a WHOLE DAY!  

I wonder if I would have risked it and just found something to do...maybe even taken a walk to the tomb where they buried Him just so I could grief and cry to my heart's content nearby where He had been laid to rest.  I don't know, but just thinking about it makes me anxious.

Not them, though...they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.  What we call Holy Saturday today, was the day when Jewish people would just stay put and slow down, idle.  They probably used the day to talk about what had happened and collect their thoughts.  They probably pondered silently the impending question in everyone's mind that nobody might have wanted to address:  now what? What are we supposed to do now that Our Lord is gone?

Today, however, when we have the benefit of Scripture which tells us the whole story, and the blessing of knowing that He ran out of that grave the next day, Holy Saturday is still a day to pause.  It is the day to meditate on what Jesus did on Friday afternoon while we wait for Sunday morning.  Today is the day when continue to wait not just for Easter morning, but we also wait for that day when Jesus will come back on all His glory.  It is the day when we renew our hope even while still immersed in a world that have apparently forgotten all about Him.  In this seemingly never-ending Holy Saturday, our gratitude rises above our agony because we know that in spite of what we see in this material realm, the truth is in The Word and in the promise of His return. 

Therefore, we Praise His Holy Name in this Holy Saturday as we wait with the certainty of those who know what's next...and that what's next is that we have already won.  

We Praise You, Lord Jesus and give You our Thanksgiving for loving us to the point of dying for us.  Today is the day to remember that it wasn't 3 nails what held You to the cross.  You could have come down from that tree in the blink of an eye.  What kept you on the cross was Your love for us, and for that we Praise You as the Only Worthy Lamb.

Amazing grace, how sweet that sound.  Praise You for who You are.  Thank You for knowing me, and for loving me still.  Come Lord Jesus, come soon.  May Holy Saturday give way to Easter morning once again.  In Your Precious Name.  Amen!