Read Matthew 27:62-66
The Guard at the Tomb
62 The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63 “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”
65 “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
Go Deeper.
Matthew 27:62 begins with, “The next day…” We often read the story of the crucifixion noting Friday and Sunday. Rarely do we pause for the next day, the day after Friday. If the pain of Friday wasn’t enough, the grueling and agonizing waiting in the messy middle of Saturday feels too much. Yet, in God’s sovereign plan, He decided to wait through the next day for the miracle. Jesus could have been dead mere minutes, hours even. Yet, there was a wait. There was a pause. There was a long silence.
Here we are on Saturday. The day darkness tried to further their advance on the Light by ensuring there was no way a follower of Jesus could manufacture a miracle. The chief priests and Pharisees requested Pilate’s help to secure the tomb so that no one could break in and steal the body. It was one last ditch effort to rid the world of the hope and light for the world.
Scripture has much to say about grief and mourning. Jesus never shied away or shunned the deep emotions of grief and pain. He never told those who were hurting to “stop crying.” He often sought out the hurting and the grieving bringing them in closer rather than pushing them to the margins. He cried with his friends, Mary and Martha, when their brother, Lazarus, died.
Death is brutal. Not only physical death, but death of dreams, health, marriages, and innocence. Jesus could have come back to life five minutes after his death; but, perhaps there’s this messy waiting period in the middle of the resurrection story because God so deeply wants us to know He understands that grief takes time. To work through the labor pains of grief so that hope might be born. To skip over “the next day” is to run past the pain that gives birth to joy.
If in this season, we find ourselves grieving the loss of something or someone, know that He understands the pain. He understands our messy middle. In the darkness and disorientation of Saturday, hope was waking up. In God’s silence, He was still working. In our waiting, He’s still working.
First the pain. Then the waiting. Then Sunday. Hope is waking up.
- Why do you think God allowed “a next day” before the resurrection on Sunday?
- How have you seen God work in the waiting of your life?
- Where do you need to trust God more with your pain?
Keep Digging
Interested in learning more about this day known as “Holy Saturday”? Check out this brief article from GotQuestions.org.
6 thoughts on “Saturday”
The Pharisees got exactly what they wanted in demanding, Jesus, who they labeled the “deceiver” be crucified, yet it wasn’t enough. One would think they would rest smugly in their victory but this wasn’t the case. A niggling fear crept in as they remembered Christ’s words “After three days, I will rise again” (v64). Ironically, all sin, including those of the Pharisees, was why Christ suffered the agony of the cross. It was a “silent” Saturday, but big things were about to happen!
I never took time to focus on Holy Saturday – it was always about Good Friday and Easter. But God knew what He was doing by pausing His miracle. It’s a day of resting and faithfully trusting in the resurrection. The Pharisees knew deep down that sealing the tomb of Jesus wouldn’t stop the miracle “the deceiver” had told about. I have to wonder if they were simply afraid that IF it were true, it meant they crucified an innocent man.
Be Still. When we stop, lean in, breathe, read, breathe, quiet our minds of this world, listen, pray, read, breathe, be still, God is in the midst. He will stop you if that is something you really are wanting in your life. That stopping is not fun most of the time, just saying from my recent experience. BUT GOD is still in the midst, WOOHOO!!! This day in the resurrection is a time of being still, leaning in, and loving what was done for you and me the next day!!!!
God thank You for what was and is accomplished in the still. Thank You for loving so much!!!!!! in Jesus name amen
WOOHOO!!!!
I think that this serves as a reminder to us that just because God seems silent, doesn’t mean He is. Just because we can’t see Him at work, doesn’t mean He isn’t. Just because we are stuck waiting doesn’t mean He isn’t real, involved in our lives and pursuing us relentlessly. Scripture is full of encouragement/commands to “wait on the Lord” and here on Silent Saturday we are forced to. I wonder what He has to teach us in the waiting if we would only look.
Matthew 27:59-61 “And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. May Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb”
It is now the next day and no doubt people where coming to see the tomb. There is rock in the entrance way weighing 2,500+ lbs. If you were Mary Magdalene, Mary or someone who had witnessed what Jesus had done what would you be thinking? Game over? Our believe hinges on a rock, life or death.
Matthew 27:59-61 “And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. May Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb”
It is now the next day and no doubt people where coming to see the tomb. There is rock in the entrance way weighing 2,500+ lbs. If you were Mary Magdalene, Mary or someone who had witnessed what Jesus had done what would you be thinking? Game over? Our belief hinges on a rock, life or death.