Holy Saturday
Today, the Church sits in silence, remembering Christ's body being laid in the tomb. The Reverend Catherine Williams considers the meaning of this day of prayer and reflection. We welcome Catherine Williams - an Anglican priest, spiritual director, and writer - as a guest contributor to our reflections throughout this season.
The Reverend Catherine Williams
Saturday, 19th April 2025 at 9.00 AM
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A reading from the Gospel according to John, chapter 19.
After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Holy Saturday – an in-between time: a day of emptiness, nothingness, grief and desolation. Jesus is in the tomb. Jesus is dead. The disciples are in disarray. The end has come terribly and swiftly – hope is snuffed out – their world is in pieces, blown apart by the forces of evil. Having lost everything, there is nothing to do on this Sabbath day but wait and weep.
Following his death two secret disciples of Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, have come out of the shadows - stepping into the light - asking Pilate for the broken body of the one they follow. They have taken Jesus and laid him in a new tomb in a garden, wrapping and tending his body with a hundred weight of spices – a royal burial fit for a king. Amid the desolation, the extinguished light of Christ still sparks through the devotion of these disciples
In the scented dark Jesus lies dead. The human face of God entered the world through Mary’s womb. Now he leaves the world in the way we will all leave – through death. It is God’s ultimate solidarity with humanity. Jesus moves through creation in death as in life – Jesus has been where we will all be – ensuring the path and the place are hallowed ground. For there is nowhere that God cannot dwell and even in death, as the cosmos holds its breath, God remains constant.
On this day we wait and watch in this empty space between death and life. To this day we bring confusion, loss, grief and despair. Sitting in the ashes of love we hold the pieces of our broken world with fragile hope, daring to believe that death will not have the final word. Trusting that the fragments will be restored in the light of a new dawn.
