If you are reading this on the day it was published, it is Silent Saturday. Yesterday was Good Friday. Tomorrow is Resurrection Sunday. It’s the day in between where scripture says not one thing about what was happening with Jesus or His disciples. There is no report on the social climate in Jerusalem. Nothing. We are left with this sort of pregnant pause of anticipation, of grief, of sadness, of wondering, that tomorrow morning will turn into victory. It’s the day in between loss and great gain. The silence has weight to it. You can almost feel it if you try real hard.
Have you ever thought about what the disciples up to on this day? As I said, the Bible doesn’t say, but if we used our imaginations, we might could come up with some pretty good assumptions. If you’ve ever lost someone you loved, you might know what they were doing. They were probably pretty quiet. They may have been having discussions on what they were going to to next. One of them might have started talking to the other about their beloved Savior, and the tears probably started to fall. We know from accounts after Jesus’s resurrection that the disciples were largely in hiding, so I imagine that they were having to be very quiet. They didn’t want to be found because if they were, the same fate might fall to them as did Jesus. It was that silence of grief, sadness, fear, and wondering. The air felt heavy.
If you are currently quarantined home alone, you know this silence. I honestly can’t relate. My house is still really loud with two boys. But some of you are starting to get really lonely. You can’t go to church. You can’t go visit a friend. Grocery store visits are limited to once a week. You may be getting an occasional phone call or you may be watching some TV, but there is palpable silence. And it’s a deafening silence. It’s all around. You can feel it. It makes you want to cry and scream all at the same time because you just want some kind of noise. Anything would be great at this point – a siren, a kid playing in the street, a dog barking, music blasting from your noisy neighbors. Any kind of sound. You wait in hope and expectation for the silence to be broken.
Tomorrow morning, even though we as the church are scattered and not together, it will still be Easter! The silence will still be broken with victorious celebration. It’s still going to happen! No virus, no pandemic, no quarantine can stop it, and no scheme of the enemy will thwart it!
In actuality, if you are in Christ, every day is Easter! Some of the best songs we sing as a church in this generation include the resurrection of Jesus. Those are my favorite! We sang a couple last week. We’ll be singing more this week. Every single day we can celebrate that Jesus is alive and has bought our salvation with His precious blood. His sacrifice on the cross is something that we can praise Him for every single day. And it’s something we need to be sharing with those who don’t know Him.
There is a hymn in the liturgical church called “Easter People Raise Your Voices.” I always thought that title was kind of strange, but just this week, I read the words. This is the 3rd verse:
Every day to us is Easter, with its resurrection song.
When in trouble move the faster to our God who rights the wrong.
Alleluia! Alleluia! See the power of heavenly throngs.
Every day is Easter for us! Everyday we can celebrate the risen Christ! So get up tomorrow, put on your Sunday best, have your Lord’s Supper elements ready, and we’re going to break the silence with our rejoicing, “Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55 CSB) Jesus is Lord! Because He is alive, we can celebrate!
“After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards were so shaken by fear of him that they became like dead men. The angel told the women, “Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. For he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.”
Matthew 28:1-6 CSB
Hallelujah! He’s alive! The silence is broken!
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