Scripture:  Matthew 27:57-66

Action:  Turn off your phone and all noise-making machines in your home.  After you read the passage, sit in silence for 15 minutes as a way to keep watch with Jesus (it may help to set a timer).  When the period of silence ends, say a simple prayer like, “Jesus, thank you for dying for us.”

We call today “holy Saturday.”  What makes it holy is what happens tomorrow, on Easter.  But on the first holy Saturday the disciples didn’t know what the next morning would bring.  Instead, they were living in-between:  after Jesus’ death on Friday but before his resurrection on Sunday. 

If this Saturday is an in-between day, it seems strange to call it “holy.”  In-between times can be painful, like after you got the test but before you get the results.  In-between times can also be stressful, like after you decided to put your house on the market but before it sells.  Sometimes in-between times can be both, like after a new coronavirus turns our worlds upside down but before we develop a vaccine.

These in-between moments may feel unholy – but because of the resurrection, they can be redeemed.  When Jesus walked out of the empty tomb, he led the way so that we could follow – beyond death and into eternal life.  That means that no matter what happens in this life, the best is yet to come.  Or, as Frederick Buechner once put it, “Resurrection means the worst thing is never the last thing.” 

An average Saturday became a “holy” Saturday once we knew how the story continued.  The same is true for us today.  We know how this story continues.  We are following Jesus into eternal life; we are faithfully waiting for him to come again. 

That makes these words true whenever you read them:

Today is holy.

Amen.

– Mary Brown, Pastor of Sylva First UMC