Silent Saturday

God at Work Behind the Scenes

Good Friday has passed and perhaps you are ironing your Easter dress (does anyone still iron?) or filling Easter baskets in preparation for Sunday. We don’t talk a lot about the Saturday after Good Friday.

Photo by Anastasiia Chepinska on Unsplash

But we should.

Waiting is often a part of God’s plan.

Abraham waited to have a child, Joseph waited to rule, and David waited to be king. In our lives, this waiting might look like unanswered prayers, unfulfilled expectations, and longing desires. Our human flesh fights with our spirit when we're between these concepts.

Can you imagine the disciples and the followers of Jesus on this day? He had promised them salvation, yet they had seen Him die. The men scattered, afraid to be identified with Jesus. The women remained. Women often do.

We need the silence to grieve what we have lost, to turn over to God our own plans and listen to his. We need the quiet to wrestle with the unspoken, to doubt and to question because we are human.

But also to hold the belief that Sunday will come.

The women who arrived at the tomb of Jesus on Sunday did not suddenly wake up that morning and decide, “Hey, we should go check on the Rabbi!” They planned it. After the Sabbath ended on Saturday night, the women went out to the shops to buy the spices they would need to prepare the Body of the Lord. The markets would have been crowded when the sun went down.

They were silent but busy. They prepared, as women do.

It is no mistake that the women were the first to learn that Jesus was no longer in the tomb.

We need Silent Saturday to prepare us for what is to come. We need it as a space between extreme grief and exalting joy.

We need to believe that, in the silence, God works.

What do you learn in the silence?