Waiting in Faith
We don't always know what is happening, but we believe that something is.
There’s great meaning in Holy Saturday, especially for we who know the rest of the story. The silence in between. You know something is happening, and you know the thing that is to come, but you can’t quite name what it is that’s happening in this moment.
We have legends of Christ preaching in prisons or something like that. But this imagery is vague, especially when we allow later cultural developments of Hell to shape how we understand it.
More direct, but still mysterious, is this: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is dead in the tomb. This matches our understanding of his experience as a human being. His body is dead, like yours and mine will likely be. The nails and gravity and the spear all did their job.
Jesus entered the experience of humanity to its fullest, to the very end.
And yet, something is happening on Holy Saturday. His disciples are waiting, though they did not yet know what they were waiting for. In many ways, his disciples (including us) are still waiting. He will come again. Victory will be in full.
But perhaps, again, not like we expect.
In our continued reading from Luke today, a woman calls out from the crowd, praising the one who bore and raised Jesus. It is a natural response, to honor what is visible, what can be named and celebrated. But Jesus redirects the moment - capturing what we continue to see is his will for us.
Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it.
On a day like today, there is not much to see. Not much to celebrate. Not much to point to with certainty. There is only the quiet call to trust, to remain, to hold fast to the word that has been given.
The psalmist prays, Into your hand I commit my spirit…my times are in your hand. A worthy prayer at the time of death. But a worthy prayer in life, too. That kind of trust is not loud or triumphant. It is steady. It is patient. It waits, even when the outcome is not yet visible.
Holy Saturday is a day for that kind of faith. Not the kind that rushes ahead to resolution, but the kind that stays present in the silence, trusting that even here, something is happening.
Luke 11:27-28
While Jesus was saying these things, a certain woman in the crowd spoke up: “Happy is the mother who gave birth to you and who nursed you.”
But he said, “Happy rather are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.”
Psalm 31:1-4, 15-16
I take refuge in you, Lord.
Please never let me be put to shame.
Rescue me by your righteousness!
Listen closely to me!
Deliver me quickly;
be a rock that protects me;
be a strong fortress that saves me!
You are definitely my rock and my fortress.
Guide me and lead me for the sake of your good name!
Get me out of this net that’s been set for me
because you are my protective fortress.
My future is in your hands.
Don’t hand me over to my enemies,
to all who are out to get me!
Shine your face on your servant;
save me by your faithful love!
Prayer (adapted from the Book of Common Prayer)
God,
Grant that, as the crucified body of your Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.