March 22, 2008

Holy Saturday

Waiting

This is a day of silence. All earth holds its breath, waiting, waiting.

For Jesus’ first disciples, it was the Sabbath, the day they rested, prayed, gathered around the light. But it must have seemed that the light had gone out forever; it must have seemed that all was lost. He was dead and buried, and gone forever, so they thought.

But something was happening on that Holy Saturday. The scripture says that “the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does” (1 Peter 4:6) and tradition holds that Jesus spent this day preaching to those who had not heard the Word of life in their lifetime. “[Christ] was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison” (1 Peter 3:18-19), rescuing the damned from an eternal separation from God. Even in death, he was preparing for tomorrow, preparing to speak the ultimate Word of Life, a Word so powerful that it could reach beyond the grave.

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If you are spending this waiting time preparing for tomorrow, check here and here for information on “green” Easter eggs.

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