On Saturday morning after Jesus’ crucifixion, the disciples wake after not having slept for two days. The city that was screaming for blood the day before is quiet. Crowds have disbanded. Jesus is dead.

This isn’t Sunday. This isn’t Friday. This is Saturday. The day after this but the day before that. The day after a prayer gets prayed but there is no answer on the way. The day after a soul gets crushed way down but there’s no promise of ever getting up off the mat.

Everybody knows Saturday

Saturday is the day your dream died. You wake up and you’re still alive. You have to go on, but you don’t know how. Worse, you don’t know why.

Today is called by some “Holy Saturday,” and if “holy” means set apart, I guess it really is. The ultimate “day-in-between.” The day that stands after, and maybe before, but do we know before what?

I have felt for a while that as a group those of us who claim to fellow Jesus, have failed to live with his disciples on this Saturday. And if don’t live this day, we not only fail to be with his followers, we fail to understand his absence, and we fail to have something to say to anyone else.

Let’s give it try today to live in the silence of “Silent Saturday.”

This post started with a quote from John Ortberg. You can find more of his thoughts on “In Between Joy and Despair” here. Please give it a slow, careful read. From there, maybe seek out some others’ thought on “silent Saturday.” But most of all, for at least a while today, be in the silence of the day.

charles

{ubi caritas et amor …… }