Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday, April 19, 2025

John 19:38-42, NIV

Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 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. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Reflection - Pastor Caroline Bashore, First UCC, Royersford and Linfield UCC

Nothing happens today.

Jesus is dead. His body, wrapped in linen, lies sealed in a borrowed tomb. The crowds have gone home. The disciples are scattered, hiding, grieving. The women wait, their spices prepared but unused. Today is a day of silence, stillness, and sorrow.

We know what it’s like to wait. We have lived through seasons of grief where time seems to stretch endlessly, where the silence of unanswered prayers feels deafening. We have waited for healing that seems delayed, for hope that feels distant, for joy that seems impossible. Today, Holy Saturday, is the day that holds all of our waiting.

And so we ask: Can we trust that resurrection is still coming?

When hope is buried beneath the weight of loss, when prayers seem to go unanswered, when all we can do is wait—can we trust that resurrection is still coming?

Yes. Because God is faithful, even when we cannot see the next moment.

Yes. Because even in the silence, God is at work.

Yes. Because Jesus’ story does not end in the tomb, and neither do ours.

Joseph and Nicodemus didn’t know what Sunday would bring, but they still acted in faith, honoring Jesus with what they had. They trusted that love was not defeated. We, too, can trust that the waiting will not last forever.

Nothing happens today—but Easter is coming.

Wait with hope. Resurrection is near.

Prayer: Nothing moves, all feels lost, hope entombed, silence crossed. Shadows linger, doubt draws near, can we trust you’re working here? 

In the waiting, in the ache, in the sorrow hard to take, still, your promise whispers low: life will rise, the stone will go. 

God of darkness, God of light, hold us through this weary night. Though we wait in grief and pain, resurrection comes again. Amen.

Easter is Coming...