A Song for Holy Saturday

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 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. Luke 23:56

While many have debated as to what Jesus was doing on Holy Saturday, few have thought of what His friends were up to. Though some speculate they were fearfully hiding, overwhelmed by sorrow or confusion, among the gospel writers, only Luke, gives us even the smallest detail. They simply rested. We might wonder, since Jesus had told them so many times that He would rise again, why none of them believed. But I think most of us would have to confess that during times of grief, few of us operate along logical pathways. We feel as if we were stumbling around in a fog. Activity, decisions, and even eating all seem impossible tasks at the moment. What we need most is rest and Holy Saturday is the Sabbath which God has given us between the sorrows of Good Friday and the joy of Easter. Holy Saturday is walking through the valley of the shadow, with our Good Shepherd, protecting and guiding us when we are most vulnerable. Holy Saturday is the table of rest and refreshment in the wilderness, where we pause along our journey to the joys of the Father’s House, that waits for us at the end of the path.

I hope you will be blessed by this song which I sang during communion at Life Care Center on Good Friday. My friends in long-term care know better than most of us that our lives are in the hands of our Good Shepherd. And what time better than Easter is there to follow Him as close as His heart, for the way that leads home is the Old Rugged Cross!

Good Friday – The Kindness of Calvary

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Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment and cast lots. Luke 23:34 KJV

During the six long hours of the suffering of Jesus, He hung from nails driven through His hands and feet, and blood streamed down His face from the thorns that pierced His scalp. No one could have expected Him to do more than simply endure: But He did. Jesus was busy with an amazing number of things, and busy, not because He hoped to gain anything, but because His kindness and compassion was stirred up for those around Him. We can’t be sure of their exact order, but during those hours, Jesus promised the repentant thief, dying next to Him a place in paradise, He made sure that Mary would be cared for by His disciple John. In His agony, Jesus showed the world the love of God, so much so that as He died, one of the soldiers who had crucified Him, began to believe and confessed that He was the Son of God.

But of all the things Jesus did, none showed His kindness more than His final prayer “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do!” Though prayed when He was at HIs weakest, that prayer is still being powerfully answered today. And today, on this Good Friday, If the sight of children starving in war-torn villages while evil dictators plan their next attack angers you, remember that in God’s kindness, lies an even greater power than guns and bombs. There is a stronger force than fear and hatred. And on that afternoon, when Jesus breathed His last, friend and foe alike thought that He was finished. And they were right! Jesus was finished paying the penalty for you and I – finished with taking away the sins of the world – finished with His Father’s mission for Him on earth but just beginning by kindness and love to change the course of history, one lost sinner at a time!

Maundy Thursday-His Hour Had Come

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And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 
Luke 22:15 ESV

The word Maundy, in the title, Maundy Thursday means command. This is because at the Last Supper, Jesus gave His disciples the command to love one another and to wash one another’s feet. But for Jesus this night meant much more. At the Last Supper Jesus would give us the communion bread and cup. And in a strange way, the Last Supper also reminds me of being in Junior High, (more than a few years ago!). Back then, the most important decision of my day was who to sit with at lunch. Considering the fact that at the Last Supper, Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him, Peter deny Him and the rest turn tail and run, it is amazing that He was really wanted to sit them. Yet, for Jesus, this was not just tolerating being with them, it was the highlight of His final days on earth. And despite the significance of the hour and even after having walked with Jesus for years, none of them understood what was going on. But Jesus knew that, understanding or not, this was the crucial time to break the bread and share the cup of the New Covenant, and that gives me hope. I have hope because I am often also not understanding what God is doing in my life, and yet the bread and cup which Jesus passed to His disciples, is still being passed to all me today. I will never deserve it, I sometimes don’t remember what it cost Him, and yet He still passes me the broken bread, He still blesses the cup, and just as when He sang a hymn with them, He sings with me. Then Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. He knew that His hour had come; His betrayer was at hand; His friends would run away, but He, the Lamb of God would stay behind, knowing that His hour had come when He would take away the sins of the world!

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