Finding a grave
Holy Saturday – Luke 23:50-56
50 Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph, who, though a member of the council, 51 had not agreed to their plan and action. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea, and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God. 52 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb where no one had ever been laid. 54 It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning. 55 The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid. 56 Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments.
On the sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
Three things to see in this text.
First, Jesus had said earlier, “Those who are not against us are for us,” In other words, there are supporters of the Jesus way in unexpected positions. Here is Joseph, a member of the highest decision making group in Judah, and he was not supportive of the action to kill Jesus. We can easily decide that those who are our enemies are a much larger number than is actually the case. Will we allow ourselves to be surprised by who else is a follower of Jesus?
Second, Joseph puts himself out to be a servant to Jesus in Jesus’ death: taking the risk of going to the governor, doing the work of taking down and wrapping the body, and using a tomb that was newly prepared. All of that took time, effort, and financial resources which Joseph willingly gave. Joseph saw a need and acted to serve, to show care. The seeming tag line in vs. 55 “The women…saw the tomb and how his body was laid” will be very important very soon. The women knew where Jesus was buried.
Third, everything stopped for a day. There was a day of rest, a day to reflect, a day to deal with the emotions of Friday and Jesus’ death. So often we do not spend time to rest and reflect, to ask ourselves, what happened there? The Sabbath forced the women to do that. We are invited to follow a similar pattern, to spend time reflecting, to spend time understanding the deeper things which lie behind the events of our lives.
PRAYER:
On this Holy Saturday, Lord God, help us to rest and reflect on the events we have remembered this week and use this day to prepare us for the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord, in whose name we pray. Amen.