Holy Saturday: Day 46 of Lent
57 As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. 58 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. 59 Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.
62 The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63 “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”
65 “Take a guard,” Pilate an answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stoneand posting the guard.
Matthew 27:57-66
Response:
See also Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:3842
Father,
look in pity on your grieving children.
Joseph of Arimathea, bitterly regretting his failure to stand and speak until it was too late, finds courage to admit his own discipleship and lay his Lord quietly to rest, now it is all over.
It seems over. Jesus is dead. His words seem empty, his promise broken, and all their hopes in him are shattered.
In this stunned shack, Mary is weeping, peter is inconsolable, John is very quiet, and they and all his friends need time to grieve.
They talk of yesterday and happier times and memories of what their master said and did;
… in a strange limbo till tomorrow and their last acts of love for him.
We pray for all who are grieving today.
We pray for all regretting what they have not said or done until it is too late.
We pray for all struggling with bereavement of weeks or months or years ago;
and we pray for all whom we love who are beyond our horizons and held in your care.
Response:
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