ON THE VANGUARD

SATURDAY
“Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.”
Luke 23:56

Saturday is considered the first full day of the weekend here in America, yet considered the official day of rest in Israel. Knowing this, and knowing that the Jewish day starts at dusk the night before, it is perhaps easier to understand why very little is recorded about Jesus’ final days when it came to Saturday. After His death on the cross, Joseph, a member of the Council from the Judean town of Arimathea, asked Pilate for Jesus’ body. His request was granted. Jesus’ body was taken down, wrapped in linen cloth and placed in the tomb Joseph had cut in a rock. But as this was Preparation Day, and Shabbat was about to begin, not much more is recorded until Sunday. In fact, Luke’s only record of any event happening on Saturday is in Luke 23:56, which reads, “Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.”
In Matthew’s account of the Saturday activities in Matthew 27:62-66, he records that the chief priests and the Pharisees went before Pilate requesting his permission for yet another reason. Remembering that Jesus had said He would rise again after three days, and perhaps having a better understanding of the events now, they requested the tomb be made secure. Their concern was that the disciples may come and steal His body but then work to convince the people that Christ had indeed been raised from the dead. This deception, in their eyes, would be worse than anything else thus far. Because of this, Pilate agreed to have the tomb secured by putting a seal on the stone, in addition to posting guards.
Now knowing that the women were preparing spices according to Luke, and that the tomb was being secured according to Matthew, one may wonder what was going on with the disciples. There is nothing said about the disciples in any of the gospels. In his book, Plan B, Pete Wilson shares his opinion of the disciples’ Saturday events, and in many ways they can reflect our own lives. “For more than a day, from sundown on Friday to until early Sunday morning, Jesus’ followers waited, feeling more powerless, more hopeless, than they ever had felt in their lives. For all that time, hope is dead.”
I’m sure you have been there; I know I have. Those times in life when we feel helpless and hopeless visit us more than we desire. We are left wondering if things will ever get better. We find ourselves paralyzed. It is in these times that we ask the same question that the disciples may have. Did God forget the promises He made us? Did He abandon us? Does He still have the power to work this out, or is it truly hopeless now? In our situations we find the same bleakness as the disciples found.
Fortunately the story is not finished. In this moment of Shabbat, though, while we wait for the holy day to be over, we are in this time of simply waiting. As with the ladies in Luke’s account, we can do nothing. As with those ordered by Pilate in Matthew’s account, we can do nothing to prevent the guarding. And as with the thoughts of Pete Wilson, we can only assume that the promises have been forgotten. Will tomorrow prove that hope is fully lost, or that hope has been restored? Today, all we can do is wait.