Good Friday.
We take a day to reflect and honor what Christ endured on the cross.
His suffering, His death.

Resurrection Sunday.
We celebrate that Jesus rose from the dead.

But what about that day in between?

Saturday.
What was going on that day?

Journey with me for a second… back in time…
about 2000 years ago.

Generations had longed for the coming Messiah. Someone to rescue God’s chosen people from their suffering, misery, and enslavement.
Hope is stirred as word begins to spread about this man born of a virgin, fulfilling prophecies, and healing people.
Could this be the One? The Messiah whom God promised?
Surely he will rise up against the wicked rulers and lead God’s people into victory and freedom!
 

The streets are filled with shouts of praise and adoration as the people proclaim,

 

“Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the Highest!”

Excitement resounding. Hope rising. Expectations mounting.

Then suddenly… only one week later.

Fears exposed.

Hopes dashed.
Anger, betrayal, despair.
 

“Crucify Him”

becomes the new echo in the streets.

And like a lamb he was led to the slaughter.

Not such a warrior after all.
Not much of a super-hero type.
Not really the Messiah we were looking for.

So, they watch him die…

Darkness covers the earth.
 

They all go home. 

I’m sure children were asking the obvious question, “What was his crime?”

Did parents struggle to explain why it was that this innocent man died?

Did they toss and turn struggling to fall asleep as visions of His horrifically mangled body flash through their minds?
How did they drag themselves out of bed the next morning?

This is Saturday.

Saturday is the time in between the death of a dream and the resurrection of something more beautiful.

Saturday is the loss of someone precious to us before the ability to rejoice that they are indeed alive.

Saturday is the time where questions don’t have answers and answers don’t make sense.

Saturday feels numb.
Saturday often means we force ourselves to do what we know we’re supposed to do when everything inside wants to give up and quit.

Saturday hurts.

So it was for Mary Magdeline.
She had experienced Jesus’s healing and deliverance first hand. All her hopes and dreams now rested in this man.

And now he was gone.

She grieves.

Then she drags herself out of bed Sunday morning to go to the tomb where they laid his body… to grieve and say goodbye once more.

But what she found was something she never could’ve imagined.

The tomb was empty and the resurrected Savior himself stands their face to face with her and calls her by name.

This is Sunday.

Sunday is victory!

Sunday is redemption!

Sunday is when God brings beauty from ashes.

Sunday is when God raises the dead to new life.

Sunday is when we see the evidence that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him.

Sunday is when all of our hopes, dreams, and expectations take their rightful place in the shadow of the cross while we look into the face of a Risen Savior!

And Sunday is when we find out that while we thought God had left us to grieve and deal with the mess on our own, He was actually fighting all the powers of darkness on our behalf in the pits of hell.

So, if you’re in a Saturday experience right now then rest assured there is a Savior working behind the scenes in ways you cannot see. 

It may look like death right now, but new life is on its way.

It may feel like despair right now, but hope is coming.

It might seem like evil has won, but Good always triumphs over evil.

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth
you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have
overcome the world.”
-Jesus

John 16:33