“I do testify to the certainty of what took place, and I write the truth so that you might also believe.”
(John 19:35 TPT)
We carry memories – both good and bad – that are triggered by a sound, a smell, a taste, a glimpse. The smell of hay reminds me of my grandfather’s barn. The crunch of snow reminds me of blizzards and snow forts from my childhood. Eating a tomato today is never as good as the homegrown garden ones I ate as a child. What memories would the followers of Jesus have had during Silent Saturday? Their hopes of him as Messiah were totally and completely crushed, after watching him die a criminal’s death the day before. They knew his body was in the tomb and that was the end. The memories must have been staggeringly painful. The silence and despair must have been overwhelming.
“Jesus carried his own cross out of the city to the place called “The Skull,” which in Aramaic is Golgotha. And there they nailed him to the cross. He was crucified, along with two others, one on each side with Jesus in the middle. Pilate had them post a sign over the cross, which was written in three languages—Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. Many of the people of Jerusalem read the sign, for he was crucified near the city. The sign stated: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”
Jesus followers had such hope for Jesus. Jews had looked forward to a Messiah’s arrival for centuries. Women loved his focus and care for them and their children. People who had seen the miracles of healing he had performed were blown away by his power, strength, and kindness. On some level, they had hoped he would be an earthly king. Now a sign mocked him. “King of the Jews” meant nothing but insult to the Romans. A real King wouldn’t succumb to crucifixion, right?
“Jesus knew that his mission was accomplished, and to fulfill the Scripture, Jesus said: “I am thirsty.” A jar of sour wine was sitting nearby, so they soaked a sponge with it and put it on the stalk of thyssop and raised it to his lips. When he had sipped the sour wine, he said, “It is finished, my bride!” Then he bowed his head and surrendered his spirit to God….One of the soldiers took a spear and pierced Jesus’ side, and blood and water gushed out.
You had watched all this play out – his cry of thirst, the offer of sour wine, his final words, the spear that caused blood and water to flow from his side. You had observed his widowed mother follow the whole series of events, numb and in disbelief. You had seen the darkness descend on the city from noon until three and the confusion that led to. You had smelled the blood and sweat of the prisoners, heard the agony of their cries, felt the arrogance of the soldiers. Just another day…except it wasn’t.
“After this, Joseph from the city of Ramah, who was a secret disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jewish authorities, asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. So Pilate granted him permission to remove the body from the cross. Now Nicodemus, who had once come to Jesus privately at night, accompanied Joseph, and together they carried a significant amount of myrrh and aloes to the cross. Then they took Jesus’ body and wrapped it in strips of linen with the embalming spices according to the Jewish burial customs. Near the place where Jesus was crucified was a garden, and in the garden there was a new tomb where no one had yet been laid to rest. And because the Sabbath was approaching, and the tomb was nearby, that’s where they laid the body of Jesus.“
Two secret disciples – Pharisees, in fact – had the connections to convince Pilate to release the body. They had the financial means to provide the significant and expensive burial spices. They even had a new tomb in which they could lay Jesus’s body. I expect the preparation of the body was done mostly in silence. What could be said? The women standing nearby may have been too in shock to even cry. The washing and arranging of the corpse, the carrying to the tomb, the application of spices all created very little need for talking.
The silence must have been heavy, crushing, and oppressive.
Some 2000 years later a songwriter attempted to encapsulate the moment:
“My Lord, what love is this
That pays so dearly?
That I, the guilty one
May go free
“And so they watched Him die
Despised, rejected
But oh, the blood He shed
Flowed for me
“Amazing love, oh what sacrifice
The Son of God given for me
My debt He pays and my death He dies
That I might live
That I might live”*
God of Amazing Love,
In the midst of hopelessness and despair we feel in this Silent Saturday and in places in our world today, remind us that your sacrificial death was so that we can live as your free, loved, and whole people. Amen.
(Scripture from John 19 TPT)
*”Amazing Love” by Graham Kendrick © 1989 Make Way Music (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.)