In the Silence

I never know what to do with Holy Saturday—there’s no particular church service for the day. It’s there between the high holy days of Good Friday and Easter. We’re just…waiting. Mourning the dead Jesus. Anticipating a dispatch from the harrowing of hell. Packing baskets. Counting to three.

But then I remembered Holy Saturday is, well, a Saturday—the Sabbath. He has told us from the beginning what this day means.

Genesis 2:2-3 says, “On the seventh day God completed the work he had been doing…” The work of creation was completed on a Friday. The work of incarnating into his creation and sacrificing for humanity’s salvation was completed on Good Friday. It is finished.

“…he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken.” The work is complete, and so he rests. There is pause, time to let the work set in.

“God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation.” The day itself is consecrated as a period of rest, a constant reminder of completed work, to pause and rest and reflect.

God instructs the Jews to observe the Sabbath and to cease from work.

Exodus 16:29 says, “The Lord has given you the sabbath. That is why on the sixth day he gives you food for two days. Each of you stay where you are and let no one go out on the seventh day.” There was a rush to bury Jesus because the Sabbath was beginning and they couldn’t do the work of walking outside the city, preparing the body, and placing it in the tomb. They were staying home and observing the Sabbath (and on top of that, Passover). The Saturday preceding Passover, the Jews celebrate the “Great Sabbath,” where they focus on the return of Elijah. Christians rather, see that Jesus fulfilled prophecies that Passover; the messiah had arrived. Following Good Friday, we wait for the miracle of Easter and Resurrection. And now, we still wait for his second coming. It’s easy to get caught up in all that is supposed to come, the anticipation, the rush to get to the next part. But God reminds us to stop, breathe, wait, rest.

Of course, God doesn’t need to rest. And he doesn’t, really. He continually sustains the existence of the universe. Jesus descended into Hell. But the message to rest on the Sabbath is for us mortal humans, who need rest, who need to be told to pause, who need the reminder to stop and pray. In Mark 2:27, Jesus reminds the people, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.” So even if I don’t know exactly what do with Holy Saturday, I know the day is for me, for my own rest between Good Friday and Easter. I know I’m supposed to rest and pray and not try to do.