Holy Saturday- Wait

Read: Lamentations 3:37-41

"We must search and examine our ways: we must return to the Lord."
                                                                                                 -Lamentations 3:40

Imagine the heaviness of the disciples' hearts the day after Jesus' crucifixion. Their leader, their hope for the future, their best friend had been executed in the most brutal way imaginable. And they deserted him in his greatest moment of need.





I wonder if there was heaviness in the hearts of the ordinary people in Jerusalem on that holy Saturday after Jesus' death. I wonder if those who had witnessed Jesus' miracles were mourning his death in secret. I wonder if the bystanders to the crucifixion had an inclination that they had just participated in a great act of evil. I wonder if Jesus' scoffers regretted their painful words. I wonder if the soldiers who beat and crucified him cried out to God in sorrow. I wonder if something was stirring in the hearts of the people that was calling them to "search and examine" their ways, to "return to the Lord." 

Or, I wonder if people went about their business as usual, completely oblivious to what God was up to on their behalf.

Holy Saturday is a strange day for us modern day Christians.  The rest of the world is going on with business as usual.  We, too, are often occupied with normal life – sporting events, housework, preparing for tomorrow’s Easter dinner with friends or family.  After Good Friday it is so tempting to just jump ahead to Easter.  But, I invite you to wait. Wait in the heaviness of Good Friday. Wait with the disciples in their shame and grief.  Wait with regret. Wait with repentant hearts. 

Today, let the words of Lamentations 3:37-41 be your prayer.  In the midst of normal life, of friends and family and Easter preparations, stop and examine yourself.  How are you turning your back on God?  How are you like the disciples, the religious leaders, the bystanders who killed Jesus?  Examine yourself before God, and return to the Lord.  Wait in eager anticipation for tomorrow, for the glory of resurrection and the promise of a new life.

~ Laura Johnson