Today is “Holy Saturday”, a day of silence, rest, and prayer. Christ was laid in the tomb, and all is quiet. The early church understood that there was a silence that was leading to a new beginning. An unknown author once wrote of today:
“What is
happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and
stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and
was still because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping
from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled.”[1]
God concealed himself, as if a Divine
Pause was occurring, and our hearts were at rest, awaiting what was next. It was as if a “new creation” was about to
begin. This Holy Saturday is sort of
like the way all Creation in Genesis had begun:
“The earth was without form and
void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was
hovering over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2).
The darkness became a prelude to
God’s work in calling forth the “light” to come. This Saturday is that prelude, and the light
is soon to come. We will wait as this day calls us to be quiet, prayerful, and
rest until the light breaks through. There is a new beginning coming.
This new beginning will be rooted
in Jesus’ own beginning in the Gospels. When Jesus began his public ministry,
there was an immediate call to people of what he was going to do. Mark’s Gospel
which is always brief in description, said is distinctly:
“… Jesus came into Galilee,
proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the
kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14-15).
At the beginning of the Gospel of
Mark, four phrases summarize the work of the Lord. These words are worth remembering, as we
await for what will happen next.
“The time is fulfilled, the
Kingdom is at hand, repent, and believe in the gospel”.
In these words, we can understand
the sense of Jesus’ life – His incarnation, death, burial, and resurrection –
and what it means for our lives, in Him.
The first phrase tells us that the
time for waiting is finished: from the moment when Jesus was born on earth, he lived
to show the time of God on earth is “now”.
In his life, and now in his death, He became the center of all human
history.
The second phrase: “The Kingdom is at hand”.
Heaven, which had been closed because of sin, is now open, as Christ
reaches back to redeem those awaiting his coming, even from Eden! Christ is at work, even in this restful pause.
The doors of paradise have been thrown open, and the dazzling light of Christ
raised and living includes the resting place of all the redeemed.
“Therefore, it says, ‘When he
ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.’
(In saying, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean but that he had also
descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who
also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things)” (Ephesians
4:8-10).
This Holy Saturday leads to the
third thing – “repent”. We are
quiet, waiting prayerfully for Christ to reveal His fullness of life to us. Yet, to enjoy the eternal blessing he has for
us, we must be willing to change our way of thinking and live for Him in His Way,
for He is “the way, the truth, and the life”. We are being called to a continuous ‘metanoia’,
a continuous inner conversion, where examine the priorities of our life so that
His reality can also be fully realized in our own existence. Our life must go through its death to self to
gain the resurrected life of Christ Jesus within.
“I have been crucified with
Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I
now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
“Believe in the Gospel” is where Christ’s victory over death, his coming resurrection, and
our quiet waiting in this Holy day of preparation will be completed. This time fulfilled, this Kingdom that awaits
us, this continual inner conversion will be realized as we live believing the
Gospel. This Gospel we believe is what this day is preparing us for, and it
will call us to a greater vision of Christ in our everyday life. No longer will we treat our living as normal,
for we have a Kingdom and a King, we live in and for!
“What is happening? Today there is
a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence
because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still because God
slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has
died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled.”
Peace
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