Silent Saturday: Solemn and Hopeful

3/30/2024

by Cason Collins and Ariana Hicks

Scripture

Revelation 1: 17-18

"When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades."

Devotion

It can be easy to forget the somber day that comes between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Jesus is alive today and so we know that he will rise after his crucifixion. As we look toward Sunday we forget to reflect on Saturday.

We must put ourselves into the shoes of Jesus's followers during that period. To the disciples Jesus was their teacher and closest friend, he was the center of their beliefs and their inspiration, and he died. Although many of Jesus's followers had faith in him and possibly got the hint that he would rise from the dead, they could not be sure. In that time Christians did not have the luxury that we have to see into the future that Jesus does indeed defeat death. To his disciples and followers, He was dead. They witnessed him a man the same as they, tortured and dying shamefully.

The world fell quiet the day after Jesus died; everyone held their breath as the man who claimed to be God in the flesh had been killed. The man who holds the weight of the world's sin and the trust of so many believers was dead. Jesus’s followers did not all know what would come next; they stood still mourning, questioning, and holding their breath in hopes of his return. This pause after such chaos gives this day the name of Silent Saturday.

Although Silent Saturday focuses on Jesus being dead, we can use it to prepare our hearts for Sunday. By understanding exactly what Jesus was doing on Saturday when he was dead we can see the importance of Jesus’ sacrifice. The song above “I’ve Witnessed It” is a song that portrays the weight of what Jesus did and the hope that his death on the cross gives us. The lyrics “You conquered hell, so I could live,” tell us that when Jesus died he descended into Hell in place of us. It seems obvious that Jesus would go to Hell when he died because he was carrying all the sins of the world, yet when we truly realize this it is eye-opening. Jesus, the man who did no wrong and whom we as Christians hold so pristine, went to the place that we all gravely fear. The fact that Jesus went to Hell and conquered it on our behalf gives us hope that we now have the choice to turn to him and never see Hell.

Saturday is a solemn day as we remember what our Lord had to endure, but his suffering brings us hope. In Revelations 1: 17-18 we see this theme of solemness that leads to hope. This sinful man comes to Jesus on his knees dead and broken, and Jesus places his hands on the man reminding him of his love and sacrifice and that death can be conquered with Jesus on his side.

In the last part of this passage, Jesus tells the man, “I hold the keys of death and Hades.” This statement made by Jesus is important to Christians as it sums up what Jesus truly did for us.

Before Jesus' death on the cross, there was no way to Heaven; because of man's sin, we were sentenced to eternal separation from God. So Jesus came down to form a bridge between mankind and God. He took on the burden of what we deserved and died and went to Hell for us. Although the Bible does not give us a super clear picture of what Jesus did when he was in Hell, we as Christians know that he was there and that he defeated Hades and holds power over it. On Silent Saturday it is key to remember that Jesus was actually in Hell and was making it possible for us to be saved without being perfect and sinless.

This crucial day of Passion Week is a day of remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice and what he went through for us. He faced the worst thing possible- Hades. We need to be still and recognize the gravity of what Jesus went through on this day for us. If we remember and get in the mindset of Jesus’s followers on that day, we can truly appreciate the significance of his death on Friday. At the same time it is a glimpse into the future and what is to be blessed because of Jesus’s sacrifice. The better we understand Saturday, the more joy we can realize on Sunday.

We implore you this Easter to take time on Saturday to meditate on God’s word after his death and before his resurrection. Think about the emotions running through his followers and disciples after their holy teacher, the son of God, died at the hands of an angry mob. Understand what Jesus was doing in Hell as he was separated from the Father in Heaven. Imagine the scene in Hell as Jesus is opening the gates and strutting out with the keys. All of this so that you could be saved.

Remember Saturday this year and do not skip from Friday to Sunday.

Artwork

“Holy Saturday” by Eugene Burnand

In the painting above the disciples are portrayed grieving after the death of Jesus. Far right on the table, you can see Peter with his head in between his hands with all hope lost. To his right you see John looking at Peter with absolute despair. His heart aches for both Jesus and Peter as he sees the state their teacher’s death has brought them all to. At the other end of the table, you see James staring off, trying to make sense of the situation and bring joy back into the picture. The rest of the disciples are gathered around the three at the table and all share similar feelings, emotions, and facial expressions. They have no thought at all about the future ahead and the possibility of Jesus coming back and returning to them.

Poetry

"Burial Spices" by Erin King

I got up in the middle of the night to prepare burial spices—
Ready to mourn and grieve.
It was pitch black,
Like the absolute joylessness I felt.
I had been duped.
I had been believing a lie.
I was ashamed at what would others think of me,
Now that it was obvious that everything I had centered my life around had come crumbling down. I was grieving—
For this friend whom I had loved,
For this friend whom I had trusted,
For this friend who didn’t exist anymore.
I was confused,
And angry,
And absolutely joyless.
So I prepared my burial spices—
To honor a now lifeless symbol that I had once clung so tightly to.
Facts were facts.
He was dead.
And, with Him, everything I had believed in.
So I got up in the dark and prepared some burial spices for His lifeless body.
And I walked in the darkness with those burial spices.
And as I got closer, I was suddenly frustrated,
Wondering who was going to roll that damned stone away.
That stone was sitting in front of all the death
That I was going to finalize and certify and maybe eventually make peace with.
I couldn’t roll it away by myself,
Even if I tried for a thousand years.
There it would be when I got to the grave,
Taunting me.
Here I am—mourning, grieving,
Just trying to make peace with the death that's going on—
The death that had happened to my friend, the death that’s happening inside me.
Here I am, just trying to use up these burial spices,
That tenderness that’s still left in my soul towards the friend who doesn’t exist anymore,
The friend who tricked me and gave me hope and then died.
Here I am, trying to use up all these spices,
But it looks like when I leave today, I’ll leave with a jar full of burial spices—
With nowhere to put them, but still filled with the grief.
Then all at once, I wonder if I’m delusional again,
Because I see things change.
As I walk, the sky goes from black,
To grey,
To pale blue,
Till finally there is a band of orange on the horizon.
And the tomb is in the middle of a garden.
And the ground shakes in the most cataclysmic sign I’ve ever seen—
Well, the most cataclysmic signs I’ve seen since the day that my friend died.
And the earthquake is so violent that I drop my burial spices.
And, for some reason, the stone is gone.
I can make my peace in peace
And move on.
But, just like the stone, so, too, is the body.
Gone.
I’m not convinced of anything.
But I have to go see what happened.
Then, I can either make my peace, or be surprised by something incredible.
So I’m going to go see what happened.
And I’m going to let my burial spices stay on the ground.
Because I’m not sure what to do with them.

Looking at the first section of the poem you can also see these same emotions and thoughts being poured onto the page by the author. At first, she even appears to be angry by the fact that Jesus left them to die on the cross and that turns into feelings of being alone and heartbroken. She is doing her duty and even this is bringing her down to the pits of her heart in hurting and aching. This is what many people experienced on this day and hope was not what many people had.

Music

I’ve Witnessed It by Passion Music

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Silent Saturday: Solemn and Hopeful

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