"Final Days of Jesus" Reflections | Holy Saturday
Recent posts on our website that share some introductions, details, verses, and songs related to this week are:
The Final Days of Jesus – Tuesday
The Final Days of Jesus – Wednesday
The Final Days of Jesus – Maundy Thursday
The Final Days of Jesus – Good Friday
The Final Days of Jesus – Wednesday
The Final Days of Jesus – Maundy Thursday
The Final Days of Jesus – Good Friday
Also, the publishing group Crossway has not only released the book, The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived , they have produced a thorough collection of beautiful images and thoughtful videos to help reflect on what was going in Jesus' life during this crucial week in history. The following posts will feature the manuscripts for each video they produced in correspondence with each day of Holy Week. Enjoy.
The Final Days of Jesus | Day 7: Holy Saturday
The Chief Priests and Pharisees Place Guards at the Tomb
It's Saturday, a day of silence. The Bible simply doesn't give us much information for what happened on this day.
The disciples are laying low, fearful that they might meet the same end as Jesus. And Jesus' body lay in the tomb, wrapped in a shroud of linen cloth.
But how did Jesus – who would have normally been buried in a simple, shallow grave in the ground because he was a poor man – end up in the rich family tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.
And where was his spirit? We know where his corpse was. But where was the soul of Jesus Christ?
How should we think of this quiet day, this day of waiting after Good Friday and in anticipation of Easter Sunday?
Joseph of Arimathea Gives Jesus' Body Its Prophetically Told Resting Place
Joseph of Arimathea goes to Pilate to ask that he be allowed to take Jesus' body in order to give him a proper burial. This complied with the Hebrew Scriptures in the book of Deuteronomy that a person who was crucified must be buried on the same day.
The Rabbinical law stipulated that a convicted criminal must be buried separately from others. So the Gospels tell that Joseph had this family tomb that had not yet held any corpses. We're told that he took a linen cloth and wrapped Jesus' body in it and then put it in this freshly cut tomb.
The Rabbinical law stipulated that a convicted criminal must be buried separately from others. So the Gospels tell that Joseph had this family tomb that had not yet held any corpses. We're told that he took a linen cloth and wrapped Jesus' body in it and then put it in this freshly cut tomb.
What we know about tombs in first century Palestine, especially in Jerusalem in the vicinity, is that they were often cut into the rock like caves into a slope, which would have been fairly labor intensive and expensive. For the most part, these were limited to wealthy families.
Yet this was another fulfillment of Scripture since Isaiah said that the Messiah's grave would be with the wealthy.
Jesus' Holy Saturday is a Mystery
Where Jesus was during Saturday between his death and resurrection on Sunday is not an easy question to answer. At the end of the day, the Bible is not altogether clear about that.
A lot of people turn to the 1 Peter 3 passage where Peter talks about Christ going and preaching to spirits who are in prison. Traditionally, a lot of people have thought that refers to Jesus, between his death and resurrection, going to Hades, proclaiming the victory he had won. Even perhaps proclaiming the gospel to people who had died so they would have a chance to respond to the grace of God in Christ.
Another view on this complicated and controversial issue is that 1 Peter 3 is talking about Jesus at his ascension proclaiming his victory over evil and spiritual beings. I think that's the direction that most contemporary scholars are going in interpreting the text.
Or perhaps our best guess is that Jesus was in the presence of the Father on Saturday. He tells the thief on the cross that he would be together with him in paradise that day.
For more thoughts on what it means to wonder at the mystery of Jesus between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, check out this post:
Or perhaps our best guess is that Jesus was in the presence of the Father on Saturday. He tells the thief on the cross that he would be together with him in paradise that day.
For more thoughts on what it means to wonder at the mystery of Jesus between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, check out this post:
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