HOLY SATURDAY

“Take a guard,” he said, “make the tomb as secure as you know how.”

Imagine thinking it would make a difference. Of course, Pilate didn’t know what we know now. Even in his wildest imagination, this executor of Roman authority could never have seen all of this coming. Why? Because Pilate’s concern was protecting the tomb from the outside, while all along Heaven and Hell were colliding within it.

Of course, some of us are still stacking guards outside of the tomb, aren’t we? In spite of our faith, we hide things away from the resurrection power of God. We cram our little caves full of regrets, secrets we believe to be too difficult for God to redeem or shame so dark as to blot out His resurrecting light. We offer everything to Him except what we keep for ourselves.

And we shake our heads at Pontius Pilate.

What a beautiful invitation Holy Saturday is, and yet how seldom do we accept it? In our earnest eagerness to celebrate the empty tomb, we fly so swiftly by this opportunity to stop and reflect on the meaning of an inhabited one. There his body lay, broken for you. Today need not be a day of great sorrow, for unlike the Apostles, we know how the story ends, but it can be a day of great surrender. What remains in you that needs to be handed over? What needs to die in order for you to live?

It was our sin and God’s plan that led Christ to the Cross. It was his power and his authority that ruptured the darkness and resurrected Him to everlasting life. But on this Holy day, we must ask ourselves the question: “How am I still working to secure the tomb and keep the power of resurrection inside?”

Sunday’s coming. Will you experience the fullness of that freedom when it does?

Call back your guards. Take a deep breath, He shall soon do the same.