Holy Saturday
by Rev. Bob Martin, Senior Pastor
Many struggle with the historical truth of the empty tomb. For believers it is a historical sign of God that follows necessarily from the miracle of the resurrection and confirms it, a sign from the God who deals with humans in history. Truth be known, there is no historical proof of the resurrection…it truly remains a puzzle transcending to our faith. For believers, however, this puzzle is the sign of the reality about which they already know, a mark of divine activity in history. Scholarship can neither prove nor disprove the resurrection of Jesus, for it truly is a miracle of God. But faith recognizes what God said would be true is in fact just that, true. God continues to be the one who not only creates life’s puzzles; he solves them too.
Read John 19:40-42, “They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish holiday of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.”
Meditation: Think of a time when you had lost all hope. What did you do? What role did God play in helping resolve your situation? Imagine what was going through the minds of Mary and all of the disciples when Jesus’ body was placed in the tomb. How did God lead them through this?