Holy Saturday – 2021 – “The Day After…
Jesus was crucified. Killed in a most horrific manner. And it all happened just yesterday. No one knew quite what to do! We were all at a loss…
Seems like an eternity ago…and yet, it was just mere hours…
His body was placed in a borrowed tomb. Thank God for Joseph of Arimathea. Who borrows a tomb? Apparently, Jesus does.
They even placed a great stone over its entrance. As if, that would hold him in.
As if, that could stop him. As if, that would do anything at all.
The women sat opposite the tomb. They did nothing. They said nothing. They sat. They wept. They mourned. They fretted. I think they would have stayed their all day, all night, if they could.
They did not want to leave.
They did not want to abandon him.
That is what the disciples did. They abandoned him and ever-so-quickly.
But the women sat there. They did not want to leave.
Then comes today, Holy Saturday. More activity. More drama. Today the tomb was sealed. It was made secure. Guards were sent in…to keep watch.
Again, as if the sealing, the securing, the guards would have any effect. As if, they could stop him, keep him at bay, hold him back.
Preventative? I think not.
Holy Saturday is NOT ONLY a day on the liturgical calendar, Holy Saturday, was also a real day in real time.
Holy Saturday is also a reality in each of our lives.
We have or will all experience “the day after” at some point in our lives.
This is how liturgy actually works.
It reflects and “images back to us” – the reality of our lives.
On the liturgical calendar Holy Saturday is the next day, the day after…
In life, Holy Saturday is also the next day, the day after…
The day after the funeral.
The day after the body has been buried.
The day after the relationship has ended.
The day after the dream was shattered, beyond repair.
The day after we tried but failed.
The day after the diagnosis that changed everything.
The day after the divorce was finalized.
The day after the tragedy of tragedies…
The day after we admitted to ourselves that our life is a mess and spinning completely out of control…
The day after we get it, our dreams and our hopes will NOT BE realized.
The day after we made the wrong decision.
The day after our life was changed forever in way’s we neither asked for nor sought…
For Jesus’ disciples, for his mother and family, for the women who followed after him so faithfully, for those who had hoped and believed in him…this was the day after.
Holy Saturday is the day after.
The day after is probably different for everybody.
For some it is a Day of Silence, stillness, and waiting.
For some it is a day of nothingness.
There is not much to say.
Not much to do.
Sometimes there is shock, sometimes there is relief. Sometimes there is nothing.
Sometimes you are just thankful that you made it through “THAT DAY” …and you just drift…
Sometimes the loss is felt, sometimes it is not, sometimes the loss permeates everything…and seemingly, everyone.
For the disciples, the women and for Jesus’ family the only thing that seemed certain, was that things had certainly changed. Nothing would ever be the same. There are lots of questions with very few answers.
“What ifs” begin to arise and creep around the corner. We wonder what WE could have done differently. We question everything…or we question nothing.
We sit.
We stare.
Is there life after loss? After separation?
Is there life after Holy Saturday?
Where do you begin?
HOW do you find your way?
Sometimes tears flow easily…
Sometimes the tears just cannot come.
Sometimes you are all cried out…and sometimes you refuse to cry. “The day after” is a day like no other…and it is Saturday.