Holy Saturday is not often remembered in Holy Week. It is the day after Jesus’ death and before His resurrection. Nonetheless, this is still a significant day of remembrance.
This day, Jesus lay in the tomb, interestingly “resting” on the day of the Sabbath before He would return. Although the disciples are noted as remaining in hiding, the timing of Jesus’ death presented an interesting and likely frustrating situation for Jesus’ disciples and followers. As He died on Friday, mere hours before Sabbath began, they were restricted in what they could do because of the law. The law mandated that during the Sabbath, the Jews must rest; thus, they were not able to take the spices and oils they had prepared for Jesus’ body until Sunday. Further, as we can imagine, this would have likely resulted in much built-up angst amongst the disciples as they had to justย sitย and wait after their Messiah and Rabbi was killed. We can learn a lesson from this, though. As the disciples had to patiently wait through the tedious hours of the Sabbath (involuntarily, perhaps), we also can take this day to be still and reflect upon the Lord.ย
The chief priests and Pharisees approached Pilate again, requesting a guard for Jesus’ tomb to prevent His disciples from stealing the body and claiming resurrection. Pilate did grant this wish and had a seal placed on the tomb, but he was notably very curt with the Jewish leaders. While speculative, I can imagine he was rather exasperated with the ordeal of these events. These leaders essentially threatened a potential revolt the day before; his hand was forced to execute a man he admitted was innocent, and his patience with the Jewish leaders had run dry. There is further irony in this event. The first is that, considering the distance they would have needed to travel,ย the Jewish leaders likely broke their Sabbath law on travel by visiting Pilate. Secondly, this is a move that might suggest the Jewish leaders potentially feared that a miraculous event would truly occur. Further, surely Pilate and the guard believed this guard of the dead bodyย to be utterly absurd.
Another interesting note is that Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were both Pharisees and members of the Sanhedrin, and yet both of them were against the decision made by the council to convict Jesus and were both secret followers of Him. Further, the tomb they buried Him in was actually a fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 53:9 (“And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth“).
In Matthew 27:54, there was a centurion who was standing guard and watching Jesus, and when he saw the earthquake and all of the events that took place, he was “filled with awe and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’โ While only speculation, some have theorized that this same centurion was among the soldiers who guarded Jesus’ tomb, as the same Greek term stratiotes is used, and a centurion would oversee the task. While this is only conjecture and we have no way to prove this is true, it is an interesting concept to consider that the man who saw Jesus die and believed in Him would have guarded His body. Either way, it can also be speculated that those who guarded Jesus would come to believe in Him after the events that would ensue the following day. This is a message that we can use to drive us as Christians. Those around Jesus (usually) came to believe in Him because of who He was, what He was, and what He did. Likewise, us as Christians should have the light of Jesus Christ, spread the salt of His word, and share the gospel (euangelion) in every avenue of life. May we take this day to reflect on the works of Jesus Christ, as symbolically they would have themselves, and then take the glorious message of His sacrifice (and return!) to the world!
Go and make disciples of all nations.
Stay tuned for my Easter article!