Below you will find a guide filled with Scripture and some resources to equip you to slow down and reflect on the events of Holy Saturday during the last week that Jesus walked among us. We pray this week is one of reflection, communion with and a growing affection for Jesus.
Scripture Reading
Luke 23:50-56 · ESV
50 Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, 51 who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God. 52 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 53 Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. 54 It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. 55 The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid.56 Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments.
On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
Reflective Resources
These resources have been provided by Briana Blanchard.
Holy Saturday is the last day of Holy Week and ends the season of Lent. It is also known as the Vigil of Easter. The day is traditionally a time of reflection and waiting. The vigil stems back to when Jesus’ followers spent this day waiting after his crucifixion on Good Friday. It is also known as the day when Roman governor Pontius Pilate instructed guards to be posted at the tomb to prevent Jesus’ followers from removing the body to claim that he had risen from the dead.
Audrey Assad · Death, Be Not Proud
This song beautifully depicts the hope that although all might seem lost, death will not win. I love the lyrics, “Death be not proud. Cause even death will die.” As we wait on the promise of Jesus’ resurrection, and we dwell on the quiet loneliness Holy Saturday represents, may we remember that death will be no more.
Be Still My Soul · Lyrics
The Blanchards · It Is Well With My Soul
“Horatio G. Spafford was a successful lawyer and businessman in Chicago with a lovely family - a wife, Anna, and five children. However, they were not strangers to tears and tragedy. Their young son died with pneumonia in 1871. On Nov. 21, 1873, the French ocean liner, Ville du Havre was crossing the Atlantic from the U.S. to Europe with 313 passengers on board. Among the passengers were Mrs. Spafford and their four daughters. Four days into crossing the Ville du Havre collided with a Scottish ship and nearly all lives were lost. A sailor, rowing a small boat over the spot where the ship went down, spotted a woman floating on a piece of the wreckage. It was Anna, still alive. He pulled her into the boat and they were picked up by another large vessel which, nine days later, landed them in Cardiff, Wales. From there she wired her husband a message which began, ‘Saved alone, what shall I do?’
Spafford booked the first ship bound for England. As he was sitting out on the deck, the ship’s captain approached him and said, ‘Mr. Spafford, we are approaching the spot where your daughters now rest.’ Instead of being grief- stricken as he had thought he would be, Spafford said that a peace came over him as he remembered the words of his friend, Dwight L. Moody. Moody had told him, ‘One of these days you are going to read that D. L. Moody of East Northfield is dead. Don’t you believe a word of that; I’ll be more alive then than I am now.’
Rather than cry, he smiled. Rushing to his cabin, Spafford picked up pen and paper and jotted down the words that were suddenly on his heart: When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea-billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.”
Church, I see a beautiful parallel between the unasuradness of the world right now, Spafford’s hymn, and what Jesus’ disciples must have been feeling on this Holy Saturday. Their savior and leader dead on the cross. Death loomed all around them and I can only imagine the fear and doubt they must have been feeling. But they did not lose hope. They believed that Jesus would return. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” Philippians 4:7!
Family Activity · Paschal Candle Activity
The Paschal candle, which is made of white wax, symbolizes leading people out of the darkness into the celebration of the Easter vigil. The candle is marked with a cross, an alpha and an omega (the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet). This symbolizes that Jesus Christ has, and always will be with humanity, and is with humanity now, according to Christian belief.
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