Mark 15:46-47. 46And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.
Jesus died on Good Friday, and he will rise from the dead on Easter Sunday. So what happened on the Saturday in between those two days?
Sometimes that Saturday is called “Silent Saturday” because it was so quiet. The Passover was done and it was Sabbath day, a day of rest. Life was going back to normal for everyone in the city of Jerusalem. Jesus was dead and buried in the grave and the disciples were hiding in fear of being caught and killed like Jesus was. The truth is that the Bible doesn’t really tell us much about what happened on that day. For the disciples it was a day of sadness, of waiting, and of wishing Jesus was still with them.
The disciples didn’t really know what was going to happen next. Jesus had told them that he was going to rise from the dead, but they didn’t remember that. So they were scared.
But we know what happened next – Jesus rose from the dead!
And we know what will happen next for us. Jesus will return and gather us up to be with him. If we are still alive when Jesus comes back we will be taken up into the air to be with him. And if we have already died, then we too will be resurrected from the dead just like Jesus. Either way it will be a great day.
But until Jesus comes back it’s like we are living in our own “Silent Saturday.” Like the Twelve Disciples we are waiting, we are wishing we were with Jesus, and we are sad that things here on Earth are so hard sometimes. Yes, one day Jesus will come back and fix everything and we will be with him forever, but until that day we have to live by faith.
By faith?
Yes, living by faith means that we have to live from what we cannot see with our eyes. For example, we cannot see Jesus with our eyes, but we believe he is with us by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can’t see Heaven, but we believe it is real and that God is there.
We also believe that Jesus is in control of everything. Even though we can’t always see good things happening, we believe by faith that Jesus is turning everything into something that is good for us.
On Good Friday, Jesus did everything he had to do so that he will win in the end, and so will all of us who trust in him. And now we wait. We wait in our sadness. We wait for Jesus to come back. But there is nothing more for Jesus to do. Everything is finished. Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins is all that was needed in order for us to be sure that we will perfect in the end.
You: Do you wish Jesus would come back today? Why or why not?
You with Jesus: Is it hard for you to believe in Jesus because you can’t see him? That’s called faith? What else do you believe in even though you can’t see it?
Prayer: Father, it’s hard to wait for Jesus. I wish he would come back today. Help me while I wait for him to keep trusting that he is in charge of everything. Amen.
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