It’s Saturday. We wait. Jesus has been crucified. He has been put in the tomb. We ponder. We wonder what is next. We remember the dreams of God’s kingdom coming to earth. We remember the darkness that fell over the earth from noon until three in the afternoon.
Perhaps one of the most amazing things was that when Jesus breathed His last the curtain of the temple was torn in two, the earth shook, rocks split, tombs were opened, and many of the dead arose and walked through Jerusalem. What do we make of all of that?
So, we sit with the apostles in a locked room in fear of the Jewish leaders, wondering if they will come after us next. We think about and talk about what to do next. How long do we wait until we feel safe enough to return home? We ask questions about the signs seen by many people throughout Jerusalem as well as those who were at the cross.
It’s the Sabbath. We are not supposed to be out roaming the streets. We are not to do any work. We are fidgety. Our minds are racing. We start to say something, then stop, thinking it is silly or nonsensical. We just can’t seem to make sense of what has happened over the past couple days. We retrace the events from the time Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey until He was laid in the tomb. Confusion, doubt, and fear have all crept in.
I pray we all remember the events of the last week of Jesus’ life. I pray we mourn His death for our sake. I pray each one of us wrestle with what happened over a twenty-four hour period that saw Jesus have His last supper until He was laid in the tomb.
John 19:40-42 They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Marty Pressey 