Holy Saturday, April 19, 2025  

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Today's Scripture
Matthew 27:57–61

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb. (NRSV)  

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Reflection

Today is called Holy Saturday. It is a day of holy waiting, a day of sorrow and grief, yet also holds immense possibility and hope. 

It’s as though we stand in a doorway, neither in nor out of a room, but directly under the door lintel, the door frame itself. From lintel we get the word liminal. Holy Saturday is liminal time, liminal space. We are passing from the grief of Good Friday to the joy of Easter Sunday. All creation holds its breath. 

We sit with Mary and Mary, opposite the tomb, watching, remembering all the love that we have shared, all the growth that we have experienced with our beloved Jesus at our side. The Marys thought it was the end — on Saturday they only knew the grief, not the hope. 

But we know more. We know that Easter is coming. We know that resurrection comes after death. We know that we are walking through a doorway, not stuck forever in a tomb. 

There will be more. We don’t always know what the “more” will be; we don’t always know what comes next. But something comes next. Holy Saturday is a passing-through space. Easter is coming.

Remember to breathe. Grieve what must be grieved. But know that joy comes in the morning. Not today, not now. But in the morning, joy will return — whether in brief flashes of hope and possibility, or in a rush of surprise and transformation in which everything is new. When that happens, it feels like a miracle. 

But not today. Today we are looking back. Today we are sitting opposite the tomb. Tomorrow will bring what it brings.

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Prayer
Dear God, sit with me today. Sit with me and the two Marys and bring us comfort. Make love large and all-encompassing today. Heal us from the inside out, and prepare us for the impossible possibility that Easter will bring. Amen. 

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Written by Nanette Sawyer, Associate Pastor for Discipleship and Small Group Ministry

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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