Holy Saturday

Thought for the day – Saturday 11th April 2020

Mary Magdalen hadn’t slept at all last night, she’d been with the women at the cross and witnessed his final minutes of life, she knew that Jesus was dead, she’d experienced the death of people she’d loved before, who hadn’t? but this was different, she’d cried last night, now she just felt numb, the pain of losing him pierced her own heart, she felt physical pain, she loved him dearly, if the circumstances had been different… who knows, who would ever know? She’d despised herself when she’d fist met him, felt worthless, he hadn’t been the first man in her life, but he was different, it was as though he knew every fibre of her being, she loved him, wanted to spend every waking hour with him, how she longed to be one of his disciples, but she was a mere woman, she longed to sit with his closest circle, listen to him as they had done, witness the things they had, but now all was lost, she felt empty inside, the world felt empty today without him.  How could she ever live without him?

We don’t often like to think about Easter Saturday and quite often we see it as a hiatus between Good Friday and Easter Day, an insignificant twenty-four hours and it’s maybe far more comfortable for us simply to ignore it.  For the first disciples it was a horrible day, how things had changed in just a few short hours.  Think of Mary Magdalen and the other women at the foot of the cross, in their day women were very much second class citizens, pushed to one side, yet they were the ones who were there at the end, they were the witnesses to his death.

Reflection

• As we live through these uncertain times of isolation due to the Coronavirus, maybe we have time to reflect for a moment about a day in history, when Jesus was unquestionably dead.  What does that mean to you? Can you imagine a life without Jesus? What would be the cost for you?
• What words from scripture, from your own experience might you cling to?