Saturday is
the final day of Lent. Forty days have
passed and we’ve sojourned through Lent to arrive at the day it ends. It is the day between Christ’s death and His
Resurrection.
It is a
Silent day – Silent Saturday.
The Gospels
say little about Saturday. The death of
Jesus on the cross occurs right before the beginning of the Sabbath; so the burial is done quickly, with a view
that the final things will have to be done on the first day of the week –
Sunday.
John
19:38-42
38 After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of
Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away
the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his
body.
39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight.
40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.
41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.
42 So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight.
40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.
41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.
42 So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
The
disciples retreated after the events of the cross. They were in hiding out of fear that they
would be hunted down by the Jewish authorities, or the Romans.
It was two “quiet disciples” – Joseph of
Arimathea and Nicodemus – who took the body of Jesus to the tomb where he lay.
The Romans
and the Jewish leaders moved to make sure Jesus “stayed” in the tomb.
Matthew
27:62-66
62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief
priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate
63 and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’
64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.”
65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.”
66 So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
63 and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’
64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.”
65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.”
66 So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
The tomb was
sealed and the guards were posted out of fear that the disciples would come and
take his body away.
It was
Saturday…the day is Silent.
Life is made
up of many deaths that must be followed by resurrections.
Die to
Self…to discover Christ’s life.
Die to dreams…
Die to
ambitions…
Die to lost
opportunities…
Die to
expectations and dreams unfulfilled…
Die to “I
thought”…
Die to ….
(fill it in)…
After deaths
there are many silent Saturdays.
BUT,
remember this, after deaths…while we wait in Silent Saturdays…there are many
resurrections.
Hebrews
11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped
for, the conviction of things not seen.
Have faith
my friends…Sunday is a’coming!
Peace
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