Today is Holy Saturday. We spent yesterday meditating on the cross, and we anticipate the joy of the resurrection on Easter Sunday. But right now, Jesus is in the tomb.
Holy Week is always a rich time of worship and spiritual reflection, but it’s taken on a new significance in the year 2020, as we observe these holy days, not in church, but in our homes. While the joy of Easter will still shine in our hearts tomorrow and beyond (Christ is risen, after all!), we can’t help but feel a little sad that the joyous celebrations we’re used to— the triumphant hymns, the beautiful flowers, Easter dinner with friends and family—just won’t be the same this year.
The original Holy Saturday was a time of profound uncertainty for Jesus’ followers. Imagine how they must have felt after watching their leader die a horrible death on a cross. What would happen next? What about the Kingdom of God that Jesus was supposed to usher in? What about the personal sacrifices that had been made to follow Jesus? Was it all for nothing?
It’s hard to find hope in Holy Saturday. Indeed, without the resurrection, there would be no hope. But this brief interlude between Good Friday and Easter Sunday gives us an opportunity for meaningful reflection on our current situation.
The Book of Common Prayer
provides
a short liturgy for Holy Saturday
(p. 283), although few churches observe it (which is understandable, given the number of services already taking place during Holy Week). The liturgy includes an anthem, “In the Midst of Life,” which fittingly reflects the mood of this somber day:
In the midst of life we are in death;
of whom may we seek for succor,
but of thee, O Lord,
who for our sins art justly displeased?
Yet, O Lord God most holy, O Lord most mighty,
O holy and most merciful Savior,
deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal death.
Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts;
shut not thy merciful ears to our prayer;
but spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty,
O holy and merciful Savior,
thou most worthy Judge eternal.
Suffer us not, at our last hour,
through any pains of death, to fall from thee.
The words “in the midst of life we are in death,” may hit a little too close to home right now. We’re living in dark times marked by fear and uncertainty and, yes, even death. But this is precisely the moment of Holy Saturday. This is how the disciples felt.
Yet, we must remember what comes after Holy Saturday: Easter Sunday. I’ve always been struck by the extreme juxtaposition of these two days — the lowest point and the highest point of the Christian year, all within a 48-hour period. That’s how the Christian life works. From the very beginning, in our baptism, we were buried with Christ so that we might rise to new life again. Now matter where we are in life, no matter how we may feel at the moment, we cannot forget that the light of Easter morning is on the horizon. Christ will not remain in the tomb.
Wishing you a blessed Holy Saturday,
Fr. Stewart
