Readings for today: 2 Samuel 1-4
My favorite part of Holy Week this year was Saturday. Strange, right? It’s the day that often gets lost in the shuffle. It’s the day of silence. The day where Jesus lay in the tomb. The day where nothing seems to be happening. If you’re like me, you’ve never been quite sure what to do with this day. The roadmap for the rest of the week seems pretty clear. Palm Sunday is all about the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. Maundy Thursday focuses on the Last Supper, foot-washing, and the new commandment to love one another. Good Friday directs our attention to the cross and the death of our Savior. Easter Sunday is the glorious celebration of the resurrection. Against this backdrop, Saturday seems mundane. Ordinary. Like any other day. I’m never quite sure what to do with it. This year, however, was different. I found myself reflecting on the “pregnant pause” between crucifixion and resurrection. The questions such a pause evokes. The doubts one wrestles with when it feels like God is silent. The struggles we have when it feels like evil has won.
Then I read the passages for today. I struck me that all of life is a kind of “Holy Saturday” experience. For the Old Testament saints like David, they lived in the great “pause” between creation and consummation and they made the best of it. In many ways, David was a reflection of his culture. He was a tribal warlord who could be capricious and arbitrary and violent. He kills the messengers who bring him the news of the deaths of Saul and Jonathan and Ish-bosheth while giving Joab a pass for murdering Abner. At the same time, he also could be gentle and humble and tender-hearted. Consider the lamentation he composes for Saul and Jonathan. He honors them in death though Saul had become his mortal enemy. He even has it written down and taught to all of the people of Judah. The civil war after the death of Saul lasts two years and costs many their lives. It’s a dark time in the nation’s history though in the end David is confirmed in his kingship and unites God’s people under his rule and reign. Such is life on Holy Saturday. It’s messy. Broken. Violent. Filled with all kinds of pain and suffering. And yet God remains patient and faithful. He works all things according to His will for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
What about us? We live in the great “pause” between the first and second Advents. Christ has come. Christ has died. Christ has risen. The empty tomb fills us with hope. It is the sure and certain sign etched in human history for all to see that God has indeed broken the power of sin and death. He will not allow evil to have the final word. Justice will be done. Creation will be renewed. All things will be made new. This mortal life will put on immortality and we shall reign with Him forever. In the meantime, however, we should expect the world to reflect the messy reality of Holy Saturday. Caught in the silence between resurrection and final consummation, we should expect to see wars and hear rumors of wars. We should expect there to be pain and sorrow and suffering. We should expect to experience tragedies of various kinds as we wait for the final revelation of the Son of God. Does this mean things are hopeless? Does this mean we should give into despair? Not at all! God is still at work! He is still patiently, faithfully, lovingly working out His will even in the midst of our mess. Through it all, God’s promise remains true. He will use all things - good things, bad things, even ugly things - for the good of those who love Him and who look to Him and who offer their lives back to Him.
Readings for tomorrow: Psalms 6, 9-10, 14, 16, 21