"When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him." (Mk 16:1). Caught as they were by history, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary thought they still need to perform the funeral rites of their tradition upon Him who died. The Sabbath rest was over and they were launched into the last day (albeit unknowingly), what the church has now come to call the 'eighth day.' The last day, the first day of the week is the day after the seventh day. Jesus is crucified on the sixth day, before the Sabbath. He is laid in the tomb before sundown and before the Sabbath of the Passover began, the seventh day. He fulfills His promise by resting in His tomb and thus giving ultimate rest to the sons and daughters of Eve: "On the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation" (Gn 2:2-3). Christ rested from all his work He had done in re-creating the world by His suffering and death. He hallowed again the true Sabbath, by resting in His tomb, that our rest might be a participation in His life. Now He comes forth on the day after the seventh day: the unending eighth day, the day of the baptismal font (traditionally 8-sided). The day of unending rest.

History began when Adam became liable to death. History ended when the new Adam, Christ our Lord came forth triumphant over death. Now we no longer count the dead. Now we only know Christ the life of all the living. We have come forth from the New Testament's circumcision of the heart from the font on the eighth day. Christ rested in His tomb on the Sabbath. He rose again on the day that follows the Sabbath, which is the eighth day. After it no other day is counted. We now live in the presence of Him who lives in the eternal "Now;" for whom there is neither yesterday, nor tomorrow. Today, is the day of our salvation. It is the eighth day. No other day exists. This is what the writer to the Hebrews is talking about when he says: "God appoints a certain day, 'Today,' saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.' For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his" (Heb 4:7-10).