St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
April 8, 2023
Holy Saturday
Job 14:1-14
Psalm 130
1 Peter 4: 1-8
Matthew 27:57-66
In-Between Times
This morning, we take a few minutes to prayerfully acknowledge the strange in-between time of Holy Saturday.
For the past week, many of us have been especially busy.
There have been lots of worship services, beginning with the palm parade and the reading of the Passion last Sunday.
On Thursday, we gathered around the table with Jesus the foot-washer and his disciples, gathered to remember some most important lessons.
Yesterday at noon, we faced the stark reality of Jesus’ death – the depth of his sacrifice – the hard fact that God came into the world in and through Jesus.
And human beings, not so different from us, killed him.
Meanwhile, in our lives both in and out of church, many of us have been busy getting ready for what we know is coming tomorrow – preparing for our joyful celebrations in church – and maybe preparing for time with family and friends.
But Holy Saturday – this morning’s simple and spare service – stops us for just a few minutes to prayerfully acknowledge this strange in-between time.
As I’ve reflected on Holy Saturday this year, I’m struck by the fact that the people in the gospel story seem unaware that they are living through an in-between time.
Oh, in today’s gospel lesson we’re told that some of the religious authorities remembered Jesus’ promise that he would rise again on the third day.
They remembered it, all right, but they certainly did not believe it, did not expect it. Instead, they’re concerned about the possibility of deception – so, it’s best to make the tomb extra secure.
But we’re given no hint that Jesus’ followers had any hope or expectation that the story of Jesus was going to continue.
As we’ll hear tomorrow and in the days ahead, the disciples will be quite surprised that Jesus kept his promise.
The disciples were totally unprepared for the new life of Easter.
The disciples didn’t know it, but they were living through an in-between time, when Jesus the Son of God entered into the human experience in the most extreme way possible – enduring death.
Jesus really died.
As for us, we can try our best to stay in the moment, but we know that, as we speak, the Flower Guild is hard at work in church making everything beautiful for tomorrow.
We can try our best to stay in the moment but we know what’s coming.
And that’s fine.
We’re not playing pretend here.
But, Holy Saturday is a reminder that we also live in an in-between time – a much longer in-between time, stretching from Easter to the last day.
Much like the first disciples, during our in-between time we grow frightened and we despair – and, sometimes, perhaps we think that God has abandoned us – that maybe suffering and death will get the last word.
Holy Saturday is an opportunity to simply acknowledge these in-between times for the disciples and for us – a time to reflect on the hard facts of Jesus’ suffering and death – and, most of all, a chance to ponder the bottomless depth of God’s love for us.
And so, for a few minutes, at least:
We pray.
And we wait.
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