Waiting Saturday: Expectant Faith and Joy

Holy Saturday is in some ways my favorite day of the Easter season.  Maybe I should say it is the day I appreciate the most, appreciate with experience and personal history.  In our culture, we seem to commemorate Good Friday, and then by Saturday we are coloring Easter eggs and getting the Easter baskets ready.  But after Jesus died... Saturday was the day after the glory departed (1 Samuel 4:21).  

Walter Bruneggemann says this, "It is a moment of loss that defies theological coherence, a loss underneath all losses.  The loss invites the unthinkable, that God could not manage, did not prevail, was not strong enough, did not care enough, could not cope."  

For Jesus' followers, Saturday was a long day of waiting.  A day of void, unknown.  The day couched after tragedy but before any seen victory.  "There is one particular day in Western history about which neither historical record nor myth nor Scripture make report.  It is a Saturday.  It has become the longest of days."  He refers to it as the "immensity of waiting." 

Today we commemorate the "immensity of waiting."  We choose to wait with expectant faith through that season in between loss and restoration.  We position ourselves in belief, hope, and joy.  I pray over every reader and family who is in a "Saturday season."  Today is your day.  Your victory draws near!  Don't lose heart...

Jeremiah 31:13 (The Message) 

I'll convert their weeping into laughter, lavishing comfort, invading their grief with joy.

May God invade your grief with joy on this Waiting Saturday!