Holy Week – Easter Eve

“Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.”

Reading

Matthew 27.57-66

The Burial of Jesus

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

The Guard at the Tomb

The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, ‘Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, “After three days I will rise again.” Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, “He has been raised from the dead”, and the last deception would be worse than the first.’ Pilate said to them, ‘You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.’ So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.

Reflection

Holy Saturday is a quiet day. A day for silent despair in face of the triumph of death, of injustice, of all the forces of evil and the human beings who side with them. It is a day for lament at the brokenness of the world, and the cost of challenging the status quo.

We know that Easter is coming. But the resurrection does not take away the cross or its scars. Much of the world still lives on Holy Saturday, poised between the pain of the cross and the hope of resurrection. Today we weep with those who weep, and sit with those who have no tears left to cry. We rage at injustice and the way it so often seems to triumph.

Today, with all of creation, we cry out ‘Lord, have mercy’, and wait for God to meet us in pain and despair, and lead us into a future we can barely imagine.

Prayer

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Today’s family challenge

Spend some time quietly today

Today we wait for the joy and hope that comes with Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Day.