St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
April 16, 2022
Holy Saturday
Job 14:1-14
Psalm 130
1 Peter 4:1-8
Matthew 27:57-66
In a Time of Turmoil, Jesus Descends to the Dead
This morning we arrive at an unsettling in-between time, this strange space after the horrors and sorrow of Good Friday, and before the joys and glory of Easter.
We tend to find in-between times uncomfortable.
We’re usually eager to just get on with it, to reach our destination, to cross items off our to-do list.
And that’s especially true here in this holy in-between time.
So, the world certainly, and even most of the church, is already moving into Easter mode – getting the flowers ready, preparing meals, straightening up the house, selecting outfits, choosing hats, and all the rest.
But, here at this simple and spare service, for a few precious minutes, we pause and sit with the hard fact that Jesus died.
The gospels are mostly silent about the events of the first Holy Saturday.
As we heard in today’s gospel lesson, we know that one of Jesus’ rich friends, Joseph of Arimathea, took custody of Jesus’ lifeless body, wrapped it, and placed it in his own tomb, newly hewn in the rock.
During their time of turmoil, after all the shock and pain of the past few days, I’m not sure Joseph of Arimathea and Jesus’ other friends and followers remembered his promise of resurrection on the third day.
Or maybe, after everything that had happened, they just could not bring themselves to hope again.
But Matthew tells us that, ironically enough, some of Jesus’ opponents remembered the promise of new life, and asked for some reinforcement of the tomb, just in case Jesus’ disciples tried to pull a fast one.
Some people invest a lot in death and the denial of hope.
We’re not told what the disciples were up to during this in-between time.
But, we know them well enough to know that they were probably hiding in fear. To be fair, we can’t really blame them for that, since it was quite possible that the Romans would be coming for them next.
And, behind the locked doors, I bet there was a fair amount of bickering and finger-pointing, lots of accusations flying, plenty of painful reminders of how they had all failed Jesus so miserably.
And, what about Jesus during this in-between time?
Since the early days, Christians have believed in what’s called the “Harrowing of Hell” – the idea that Jesus “descended to the dead,” entering through the gates of hell, where souls had been waiting so long for liberation.
Except for saying one line in the Creed, these days we don’t usually spend much time thinking or talking about the Harrowing of Hell.
But in the past lots of artists were inspired by this notion, depicting Jesus leading souls up out of hell and into new life.
Artists have often imagined Jesus leading Adam and Eve out of hell – the first man and woman representing all of humanity.
That’s a beautiful image, of course.
But, personally, I love an idea shared by the writer Gary Wills and others - that perhaps the first soul liberated from hell was Judas – a powerful sign that absolutely no one is beyond the reach of God’s love and forgiveness.
And that’s the thing about the Harrowing of Hell.
It’s not a onetime event.
Especially in our time of turmoil, there are plenty of people all around us whose hearts still beat but who are in hell – the people carrying the heavy burdens of fear, despair, anger, resentment, disappointment, greed, grief…
Especially in our time of turmoil, there are plenty of people all around us who are still breathing but who are already in hell, but they – we – are never beyond Jesus’ reach and care – never beyond forgiveness and liberation.
So, very soon we will turn the page to Easter.
It will be glorious, no doubt.
But, let’s not forget Holy Saturday.
Let’s not forget that Jesus really died.
Let’s not forget that Jesus descends to the dead, doing what Jesus does on Holy Saturday, Easter, and all the time: transforming death into new life.
Amen.
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