April 14, 2017
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

The Day for the Hopeless

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Sovereign Lord, I bow before You in this holiest of hours, awed by the mystery of Your suffering. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my all.

Read Mark 15:42–47

[42] It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, [43] Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. [44] Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. [45] When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. [46] So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. [47] Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflect

“Buried there in death is love incarnate, with the power to conquer death, and summon forth what is out of what was not” (Alan Lewis).

 

Our passage shows courage in a story full of cowardice. Yesterday’s verses
showed the faithfulness of the women watching at a distance. Then Joseph risked the wrath of
Pilate and, unusually, secured a proper burial for a crucified man, while the women continued
their vigil: watching and waiting. There was no hope in any of these actions, but there was a
great love for Jesus. They could not, at that time, know that their love and courage would be
remembered down the centuries—not because Jesus died, but because he lives.
As we celebrate the Easter season, Holy Saturday is not the spare day in between the important
ones. It is the day when we face the fact that Jesus was indeed dead and buried. It is not the
manner of his death that matters most: it is the cold hard fact of it. His body lay cold in the
grave—and he was God incarnate. We are not allowed to pass too quickly from the cross to the
empty tomb, with a sigh of relief that everything is alright after all. Human hope both ended and
began again in that rock tomb.
Holy Saturday is the feast day for the hopeless; for those who have run out of possibilities and
can do nothing to alter their plight. Like these women, they can only watch and wait, dependent
on a miracle. Like Joseph, they defiantly do the little they can, but it still ends in a tomb. Holy
Saturday, viewed from Easter Sunday, shows us to be utterly dependent on God for rescue. Our
hope is in him alone. So we trust the one who entered death, the ultimate end of hope. When our
lives reflect that Saturday, we can still wait with hope. Sunday’s coming!

Our passage shows courage in a story full of cowardice. Yesterday’s verses showed the faithfulness of the women watching at a distance. Then Joseph risked the wrath of Pilate and, unusually, secured a proper burial for a crucified man, while the women continued their vigil: watching and waiting. There was no hope in any of these actions, but there was a
great love for Jesus. They could not, at that time, know that their love and courage would be remembered down the centuries—not because Jesus died, but because he lives. As we celebrate the Easter season, Holy Saturday is not the spare day in between the important ones. It is the day when we face the fact that Jesus was indeed dead and buried. It is not the
manner of his death that matters most: it is the cold hard fact of it. His body lay cold in the grave—and he was God incarnate. We are not allowed to pass too quickly from the cross to the empty tomb, with a sigh of relief that everything is alright after all. Human hope both ended and began again in that rock tomb. Holy Saturday is the feast day for the hopeless; for those who have run out of possibilities and can do nothing to alter their plight. Like these women, they can only watch and wait, dependent on a miracle. Like Joseph, they defiantly do the little they can, but it still ends in a tomb. Holy
Saturday, viewed from Easter Sunday, shows us to be utterly dependent on God for rescue. Our hope is in him alone. So we trust the one who entered death, the ultimate end of hope. When our lives reflect that Saturday, we can still wait with hope. Sunday’s coming! 

 

Apply

The women could do very little, but they did what they could: they stayed at the cross (47). What opportunities for Christ can you grasp right now?

Closing prayer

Lord, as one who sees hope beyond the tomb, may I never lose hope in You. Strengthen me to offer hope in Your name to those who have lost it.

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