Apr 11 2009
Thoughts on Holy Saturday
Bartolo di Fredi (d. 1410)
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John 19:38-42
After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews*, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
*the use of “the Jews” particularly in John’s gospel is long troubling to people of faith. As Jesus was a Jewish man and most of his early followers were Jewish men and women, it must be noted this is not a racial categorization though subsequent European thinkers applied this logic. The term “the Jews” referred to those in religious authority of that day. In our own era it would be more appropriate to say “for fear of the Christians” in this gospel text because most Christians act from a place of power that is actually hurtful to the true followers and message of Jesus.
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Holy Saturday
Perhaps one of the most forgotten holy days in our Christian year. Though one does not fully observe the Paschal (meaning the full passion and resurrection experience) without this day. Ironically, like the day of Christmas, the significance of this solemn occasion is lost in the clamor of the days which surround it. Yet we should not let this simple quiet day pass us by. It is one of my favorites because it requires us to wait. Entering into holy longing can be one of the most transformative experiences of human existence. As St. Paul writes of creation waiting for the revealing of the children of God, I think it is worthwhile to imagine all the ways in which creation, and we as part of creation, must wait.
It is this idea of waiting which links again back to Christmas. The two great feasts of the Church year are linked as mysteries of the incarnation (the taking on of human form by God) and are inseparable. As T.S. Eliot observed in his poem “The Journey of the Magi” : “were we led all that way for Birth or Death? There was a birth, certainly, we had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death, but had thought they were different; this birth was hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.” All life is intrinsically connected with dying. It is a journey required. But the waiting is not one of passivity, it is one of kinetic energy stored for what is to follow.
As John’s gospel tells us, Jesus’ body was wrapped in linen bands and placed in a tomb in a garden. Centuries of Christian thought has made the parallel between this garden and the original garden of Eden. It is thought that on this day, the sabbath, creation implodes back onto the garden and the Holy Spirit broods across the waters of chaos stirred by the passion of Good Friday. Can we allow ourselves to fully enter into that space of brooding. If the tomb is now the womb of a new creation then how will we find ourselves as part of the new creation on the Easter which is the first day of new life?
Going back to the nativity of Christ, many artists painted the infant child in linen bands which mirror the same bands that wrap the body of the dead Jesus. For example I provide a painting by Bartolo di Fredi (Italian d. 1410). Note the corpselike swaddling of Jesus, arms pinioned to the side. Also note that the manger is at the mouth of a cave, that liminal place going deep into the world. For many, on this day, it is thought that Christ is entering hell and bringing forth the dead from there. Even for us, can we enter the cave of waiting and uncertainty? In our darkness will we find Jesus trampling on the gates of our own hell? Are we willing to allow for others to be granted this same freedom?
Jesus is wrapped in linen bands, the body seems motionless, the way is sealed with a stone too large to move. All the world says “NO” to this man who promised love as the fulfillment of human existence. The energy is kinetic. “All you who pass this way, look and see,” do not hurry into Easter, stay and watch and pray just this one more night. In the dark space the universe is reborn. The gates of hell will be overthrown. Where are you in the new creation?
