Day 6
Waiting with Hope: The Significance of Holy Saturday
As we meditate on Easter, the crucifixion on Friday and resurrection on Sunday rightfully capture our attention. The power of these events is alive today, teaching us the power of Jesus' blood and the redemptive love of Our Heavenly Father. However, Holy Saturday, the day in between when Jesus lay in the tomb, is often overlooked but holds great significance.
Holy Saturday offers an opportunity to reflect on the pain and sorrow of Good Friday and the anticipation of the victory and hope that Sunday brings. It represents a time of waiting and uncertainty as the disciples mourned and awaited the resurrection. Today, it invites us to contemplate Jesus' sacrifice and the victory over death that was coming.
Jesus foretold His resurrection to His disciples in Matthew 20:17-19: "Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, He took the Twelve aside and said to them, ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day He will be raised to life!’"
On Holy Saturday, the disciples must have been uncertain, waiting for the fulfilment of Jesus’ promise. Though they may not have fully believed, we now have certainty in Christ's victory. In our lives, we often experience our own ‘Holy Saturday’ of waiting, but our waiting is never in vain. Like Christ, we know that victory is assured, no matter the present struggles. Even in times of waiting, we are not without hope—our waiting is wrapped in the victory already won on the cross. We should be encouraged to live with that confident hope every day, knowing that just as Christ rose again, so will we see victory in our lives.
The comparison between the disciples’ waiting and our own waiting periods is striking. Just as the disciples knew the resurrection was promised, we can hold onto the certainty that victory in Christ is assured, even if we can't always see it in the present. This echoes the powerful truth that while life may bring struggles and waiting periods, our hope is in something greater than our immediate circumstances—it's in the finished work of Christ.
In light of this, I encourage you to wait well, with a spirit of expectation and faith. Our waiting is not in vain. Just as Jesus rose from the dead, bringing ultimate victory over death, so do we have the hope that whatever we are waiting for, in God's time, will come to fruition. It's not just a passive waiting, but an active trust in the promise that "Sunday is coming."
Holy Saturday offers an opportunity to reflect on the pain and sorrow of Good Friday and the anticipation of the victory and hope that Sunday brings. It represents a time of waiting and uncertainty as the disciples mourned and awaited the resurrection. Today, it invites us to contemplate Jesus' sacrifice and the victory over death that was coming.
Jesus foretold His resurrection to His disciples in Matthew 20:17-19: "Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, He took the Twelve aside and said to them, ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day He will be raised to life!’"
On Holy Saturday, the disciples must have been uncertain, waiting for the fulfilment of Jesus’ promise. Though they may not have fully believed, we now have certainty in Christ's victory. In our lives, we often experience our own ‘Holy Saturday’ of waiting, but our waiting is never in vain. Like Christ, we know that victory is assured, no matter the present struggles. Even in times of waiting, we are not without hope—our waiting is wrapped in the victory already won on the cross. We should be encouraged to live with that confident hope every day, knowing that just as Christ rose again, so will we see victory in our lives.
The comparison between the disciples’ waiting and our own waiting periods is striking. Just as the disciples knew the resurrection was promised, we can hold onto the certainty that victory in Christ is assured, even if we can't always see it in the present. This echoes the powerful truth that while life may bring struggles and waiting periods, our hope is in something greater than our immediate circumstances—it's in the finished work of Christ.
In light of this, I encourage you to wait well, with a spirit of expectation and faith. Our waiting is not in vain. Just as Jesus rose from the dead, bringing ultimate victory over death, so do we have the hope that whatever we are waiting for, in God's time, will come to fruition. It's not just a passive waiting, but an active trust in the promise that "Sunday is coming."