Holy Saturday
Posted on March 30, 2024 by under
Scripture: St. Matthew 27:57-66 (NKJV)
27:57 Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. 58 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him. 59 When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed. 61 And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.
62 On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, 63 saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’ 64 Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.”
65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.
Devotion
In the beginning, when God had finished creating all things, He rested. On Holy Saturday, after Christ had accomplished all things according to the Scriptures to accomplish our Redemption and to bring about the New Creation, He rested in the grave. Today, let us take the time to meditate quietly in true faith over what we have seen and heard from the Scriptures this Lenten season, as we wait for the celebration of Christ’s glorious resurrection from the dead on Easter Sunday.
Being made contrite over our sins from the demonstration of God’s wrath and displeasure on Calvary’s hill, let us always take heart and be encouraged from the image of our Savior, who manifested the great love which God has for us that He would send His Son to save us. As St. John writes in his first epistle, “We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. … And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:14, 16)
Collect: O God, Who didst enlighten this most holy night with the glory of the Lord’s Resurrection: Preserve in all Thy people the spirit of adoption which Thou hast given, so that renewed in body and soul they may perform unto Thee a pure service; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
