Presence of God
A quick look through the book of Psalms will reveal a theme that repeats itself again and again - the steadfast love of God.
When we look at Jesus we see the reflection of what God is like. In his life, in facing death, and in death itself, Jesus remained faithful in his love towards those he came to save.
As we journey through Holy Week, you will see the steadfast love of God again and again, fully revealed in the face of Jesus.
Word of God
After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
John 19:38-42
Devotion
Today is “Holy Saturday,” and if you can think about it this way, ---- it’s the only day in history when Jesus wasn’t alive.
The Gospel of John says that Jesus was in the beginning with God, and that all things were made through him. He was the “Word” that was with God and was God. If that’s true, then he existed from the very beginning — he was alive and well even before he “became flesh and lived among us,” as John says. But on this day — the Saturday after Good Friday — he was dead.
Can you imagine how it would be if you couldn’t talk to Jesus? If you couldn’t count on him to be there when you needed him? Think how his disciples must have felt, and how grateful we can be that of all the days in history, this was the only one when Jesus wasn’t alive.
Jim Somerville
I, myself, have for a long time used the name ‘Jesus’ to refer to the ‘fully human’ part of the incarnate God and ‘Christ’ to refer to the ‘fully God’ part. Which in Jesus Christ the God-human are intermingled and not truly distinct, and yet to me, somehow important to recognize. So it is a bit jarring for me to read that JESUS (as opposed to Christ or Logos/the Word) was alive for all of history except that one day.
But theological hair-splitting aside .... to answer his question, YES. And so can anyone who has buried someone beloved. I just wrote an email this past week to a friend who is losing her husband to dementia. I affirmed my dad’s statement that the hardest day-in, day-out point in surviving the death of a spouse was the loss of the trusted ‘sounding board,’ the person you could go to for insight or to just talk through a situation and clear your head about the choices before you.
Oh, God, how deeply grateful I am that I did not have to experience THAT silence, even for a day.
Norma Prina Murphy
Conversation with God
Jesus, I don’t like to think of you cold and dead and lying in the tomb. I like to think of you alive and well and listening as I pray. On this day help me remember how much you mean to me, as I wait with hope for your resurrection. Amen.
Benediction
O that you and I might be,
Like Jesus,
Faithful and true.
God grant us grace
That we might become,
Like Christ,
Steadfast in our love too.
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| The day that creation held its breath ... |
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