EXPLORING HOLY SATURDAY

Where is God when heaven is silent?

On Holy Saturday, it is not Jesus but we who must ask the “Where?” question:

“Where on earth are You, God, when Your Son lies dead in the grave?”

On Holy Saturday, the hopes and prayers of every disciple lay dashed and broken in the grave. But God did nothing. Said nothing. No sound but the buzzing of flies around the corpse of the Son.


Day 30: God on the Gallows


Pause

“Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. I would flee far away and stay in the desert; I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest in the storm.” - Psalm 55:6-8

Reflect

  • Bible: “Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was God’s Son!’” - Mark 15:37-39

  • Book: A recount of the devastating story of the hanging of a boy in Auschwitz, while the other prisoners, including the author Elie Wiesel, were forced to watch: “For more than half an hour, he stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes. And we had to look him full in the face. He was still alive as I passed in front of him. His tongue was still red, his eyes were not yet glazed. Behind me, I heard the same man asking: Where is God now? And I heard a voice within me answer him: Where is He? Here He is – He is hanging here on this gallows.” - (p. 174)

Ask

  • If you could fly away right now, then would you? Why or why not?

  • If money was no issue, then where would you go to escape the troubles of life? Explain.

  • What would you say is your shelter in the storm?

  • “Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.” What is your emotional response to this?

  • Do you believe Jesus is God’s Son? Why or why not?

  • Describe the most intense experience where you literally stared death in the face as someone was dying? What thoughts went through your mind as you gazed upon death?

  • Is there any aspect of your current situation - however bleak - to which you can point and say, with a mixture of horror and hope: “There is God”?

  • Are you able to identify God’s presence within the pain of your present predicament, or only in the prospect of some future deliverance?

  • How has Jesus suffered with you? 

Yield

Inspired by Paul’s letter to the Galatians (2:20 MSG):

“I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before [others] … and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life [I am] living is not ‘mine,’ but it is lived by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.” Amen.

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