Mark 15: 46-47. 46And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.
Matthew 27:62-66. 62The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ 64Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” 65Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” 66So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
Very little is written about the day between the death of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus. The scriptures above tell us that Jesus was buried and that the religious leaders were worried about some sort of resurrection hoax. Sometimes we call this day Silent Saturday. It seems appropriate. Jesus is dead. The disciples are hiding. But the rest of the world picks up where it left off. It’s just another Jewish Sabbath. A quiet day of rest.
This is where the Christian life is lived, in Silent Saturday between death and resurrection. We have died with Christ and one day we will be raised with Christ. Until then, just as Jesus lied buried in the earth, we have been buried into Christ awaiting the fullness of our resurrection.
Romans 6:8. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
Just as the disciples waited nervously in between the death and resurrection of Jesus, we live in between the ages. In the “already but not yet.” Ours is a quiet place. A place of waiting for our resurrection. A place full of suffering and sorrow.
But let’s be honest, we don’t like the quiet do we? Like a child who fights against bed time, we fight the command to live simple, quiet, and peaceful lives until Christ returns. Instead we want a triumphalistic faith. We want big displays of God’s glory. Miracles. Breakthroughs. Testimonies of answered prayers (when’s the last time you heard somebody give testimony of an unanswered prayer?). We demand to hear Jesus in our quiet time, because God forbid we ever just sit in our doubts and questions. We need loud worship music, bright lights, lots of screens, and spiritual experiences that make us feel better about ourselves.
But what if God intends for us to dwell mostly in Silent Saturday? The space between death and resurrection. The place of Sabbath rest. The place of burial into Christ.
Romans 6:4. We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death.
In his death and burial, Jesus has completed his union with humanity. He has now done everything a person is destined to do – be born and live. And everything a sinful person is destined to do – die and be buried. He has been buried into us, so that we can be buried into him.
And now we wait. We wait in our suffering and sorrow. We wait for our resurrection from the dead. We wait in between death and life. And yet, there is nothing more to be done. Jesus did it all on that day. On Silent Saturday Jesus was alive but no one could see it. His life was hidden. His body was in the tomb but his spirit was in Heaven presenting his sacrificed life to God.
Hebrews 9:12-14. 12[Jesus] entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
Everything is finished. Jesus’ sinless sacrifice, and the presentation of his righteous life, have made our salvation possible along with all of its blessings. Together with Christ we share in his inheritance, we participate in the divine nature, and we walk in newness of life.
But we also wait. We wait in the quiet. We wait in faith while Christ is hidden from us, yet actively interceding for us in Heaven, just as he did on that Saturday. And though we cannot see him, we love him.
We may think that we need grand gifts and supernatural signs, but the true sign of Christ in us is the resurrection of our hearts unto love (1 Cor. 13). Quiet, humble, selfless, love. A life lived faithfully for Christ in the silence of Saturday, as we wait for a glorious resurrection Sunday.
You: Have you embraced living in “Silent Saturday?” Or do you need God to show up in big ways in order for your faith to feel real?
You in Christ: Jesus has finished everything in regards to his sacrifice for sin. How does this truth allow you to live from a pure conscience (Heb. 9:14)?
Christ in you: How can you live in the simplicity of a quiet and peaceful life of love today?
Prayer: Jesus we long for your return. We long for our resurrection unto completion. May the longings of our hearts in the waiting always be filled by you – your hope, peace, and love. Amen.
To Live is Christ 