Holy Week: A Journey From Jesus’ Death to ResurrectionSample

Holy Saturday: Jesus in the Tomb

“Holy Saturday is perhaps the most important day of this sacred week because it is the day we must sit with death and grief as integral parts of our faith.... Holy Saturday is the place between mourning and rejoicing; it is a time in which death has not yet been defeated, and victory cannot yet be proclaimed” (Rev. Dr. Yolanda Pierce, In My Grandmother’s House).

Yesterday Jesus died, and today He’s still in the tomb. There is only one reference to what happened on that Sabbath day. It’s an account of the leading priests and Pharisees going to Pilate and asking him to seal the tomb.

“Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.” Not only was it the Sabbath, but it was a very special Sabbath because it was the Passover (John 19:31). On this day that was to be holy, these men are continuing to conspire against Jesus.

It would be easy to shame and wave a finger at them, but a better thing is to ask yourself, How am I conspiring and striving to keep my position? Are there offensive ways in me?

Prayer: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23–24).