Saturday
Scripture Reading — Psalm 13:1-6
At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. . . . They laid Jesus there.
Jesus was put to death on a Friday. And he rose from the dead on the following Sunday. The Bible tells us quite a bit about those two days, which we now call Good Friday and Easter Sunday. But what about the in-between day, Holy Saturday? The Bible says next to nothing about it.
That leaves us to wonder. What was going on with Jesus on Saturday? He was dead. His lifeless body lay in a stone tomb. We tend to assume that his spirit was now with God in heaven, or paradise, as Jesus implied while he was dying on the cross (Luke 23:43, 46). But we aren’t told anything more.
On Saturday, while Jesus’ body lay dead, was his spirit aware, even alert? I wonder if Psalm 13 drifted through his mind, as if to say, “Father, if you don’t open my eyes, I will sleep forever in death! If you don’t open my eyes, my enemies will have won!”
But the psalm doesn’t end there. It turns to focus on God’s love and salvation. Did Jesus’ spirit then also say, “But I trust in your unfailing love”? And as darkness surrendered to light on Sunday morning, did Jesus praise his Father with more words from this psalm: “My heart rejoices in your salvation”?
Maybe Jesus gives more meaning to this psalm than we have realized.
Jesus, everything was created through you, in you, and for you. It’s no wonder that all of Scripture, including Psalm 13, points to you. We praise you, the living Word of God. Amen.
About the author — Bob Arbogast
Bob Arbogast is the pastor of Celebration Fellowship church in Ionia, Michigan. In his spare time, he plays guitar in a West Michigan blues band. He and his wife Jan have been married forty years and have three adult daughters. Bob has been praying the psalms since 2002.
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