Day Forty

Day Forty // April 3 // The Stilled Heart of Christ (Holy Saturday)

“Waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one’s thoughts.” – Elisabeth Elliot –

Holy week is a roller coaster of emotions. From the highs of the Triumphal Entry with palms waving, to the testing and teaching, to the raw emotion of the Last Supper and the Garden of Gethsemane, to the brutal, gripping horror of the cross. And then, Jesus is buried. The story seems to be over. But Saturday arrives. The word for this day is: Lacuna. Lacuna is an empty space, a gap, a missing portion in a book or manuscript. In the great story of Jesus’ life, this is that empty space between the cross and the resurrection.

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And while the religious elite were breaking the Sabbath law, begging Pilate for extra guards and security to prevent His disciple’s possible mischief; those disciples aren’t plotting a way to steal Jesus’ body. Instead, they are wallowing in the silence and unanswered prayers of Saturday. Jesus is still dead. He’s still in the grave. They are probably terrified that they are next, that the mere association with Jesus will lead to their crucifixion. They’re grieving the loss of a friend and teacher. They’re humiliated. They really believed that He was the Messiah, the Savior of the world.

But doubt creeps in.

In their shock, they forgot. They forgot the warnings of the cross. They forgot the promises of what would be. They could not see beyond the pain of their circumstances. They forgot His concerned words just two days before: “Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (John 16: 20-22). If we are honest, we are strangely comforted by the story of the disciples on that Saturday. We are not alone in not fully understanding God’s silence. The

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disciples had lost hope completely. They were confused and shocked by the silence of that Saturday. Their doubt caused them to abandon the cause completely and stop believing in what Jesus taught.

But despite the silence, Jesus promises that joy is coming. In our times of pain, grief, misunderstanding, and confusion, remember it is just Saturday. In those moments where we are left wallowing in the silence of God and in unanswered prayers, it’s just Saturday. When we are stuck in our darkest moments, remember that Saturday is just a lacuna. The story is not over. It is merely a pause. We can hold on to this promise – one that Jesus gave His disciples some two thousand years ago: joy is coming… a joy that no one can take away.