Saturday. Those who followed Jesus had to have thought they’d never see a darker day. The disciples had left families and professions to follow Jesus. And yet now he was gone, and they were alone. They’d given up everything and I have to wonder if they felt like Jesus had lied to them. He’d told them all these things, made promises, and then they had watched him die, crucified on a cross on Golgotha. How was that for a mighty savior? Often, we talk about the brutality of Friday and the beauty of Sunday as we remember that Jesus rose again, but, we don’t talk much about Saturday. The day that it felt like Jesus had left the disciples and let them down. What they didn’t understand was God was there in the waiting.
Jesus had died, he was gone, but he would return as promised. That period of death to resurrection wasn’t without purpose. There was pain and loss, yet God was still working amongst that, they just didn’t know it. The darkness of Saturday makes Sunday all the more glorious. The time in between when it seemed like Satan had won was actually God working for our good. Jesus would conquer death as he said. He would return as he said. Because God doesn’t break his promises. As hopeless as Saturday had to have felt God was never not in control. He was never not there. That is the sovereignty of the God we serve. Complete control even in the darkest moments when the world is chaotic, and we don’t know which way is up.
For the disciples that Saturday was dark, they were in the depths of despair. We get the benefit of reading it as our history. We know Jesus came back. They didn’t have the luxury. But, like the disciples, we have days when tragedy strikes and all of the sudden it feels like God isn’t there. We lose a loved one, we get horrible news, there is a catastrophic event somewhere in the world, and we don’t know where God is in that pain. Friend let me assure you He is right there with you, just like He was waiting on that dark Saturday as Jesus lay dead in a borrowed tomb. He hasn’t left you in your despair. He won’t leave you there. Why? Because He promised never to leave or forsake you in Deuteronomy 31:6.
In God there is hope even in our darkest moments. Even when it feels like we are completely alone like the disciples staring at an empty cross that had held the man they followed for years. We can’t see the beauty of Sunday without realizing the darkness of Saturday. In darkness there is hope because of Jesus. We are never alone, never forgotten, never forsaken. We might not always feel like God is there in those dark times but because of a dark Saturday thousands of years ago we can rest assured that God hasn’t gone anywhere. He’s alive and He is right there waiting to give us peace and hope.
