Holy Saturday
St. Matthew 27:57-66:
Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him. When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 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. And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.
On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, After three days I will rise.’ 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.”
Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.
Meditation: Here faith triumphs over all evil and darkness. For Jesus is now crucified, dead, and buried, and a stone blocks the tomb. But in spite of all this dread for the eyes to see, there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the tomb. How faithful were these women! For they, in spite of all the grief that this experience and sight gave them, remained faithful to their Lord and His word (for He had told them to be watchful). So there they sit; yea, there sits faith, keeping watch in the hour of darkness. So does faith triumph over darkness and the grave. On whose behalf, then, do these women sit and keep watch? On behalf of all the faithful ones, the very Bride of Christ. No darkness can daunt them, no grief nor sorrow can dissuade them, for in spite of their weeping they remained faithful, now, to their dead Lord, somehow knowing still that He is the Resurrection and the Life. Holy Saturday marks the triumph of faith, expecting Easter.
from Every Day Will I Bless Thee: Meditations for the Daily Office (Sussex, WI: Concordia Catechetical Academy, 1992).