In the Christian faith, we basically have two "high-profile" holidays, Christmas and Easter, both of which were set up to commemorate the two most important points in Christ's presence here on earth. Christmas was set up to remember Jesus' birth with presents, trees, lights, and eggnog. Easter was established to honor Jesus' death with chocolate bunnies, eggs (interesting that eggs are referenced in both holidays), and jelly beans.
Typically, Christian churches will pull out all the stops on for Christmas with a special Christmas program where all the moms jockey for position to get their sons and daughters cast as Joseph and Mary, and one lucky mom will receive the highest honor of having her newborn son cast as the baby Jesus. I wonder how many "baby Jesus" end up to be hoodlums in their teenage years?
Then there's Easter. To bring a great focus to Jesus death, Christians have established a "Holy Week." It starts off the Sunday before Passover with Palm Sunday. Then we have Maundy Thursday, which is also the day of Passover in the Jewish faith. Next, we have Good Friday, which is the day of Jesus' crucifixion. And of course, Holy Week is brought to a great end with Easter Sunday. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are just ignored in this Holy Week. We ran out of cool names.
Saturday acts as an intermission. Nothing happened on Saturday. Jesus was in the tomb. God didn't do anything. Nothing happened.
That's why Saturday is so important.
Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
Until his crucifixion, Jesus has thousands of followers and opponents. He was doing ministry as God's Son, the Chosen One, the Messiah, for about three years. People knew him. People saw him. People were healed by him. Then he died. He was gone. Now what? This isn't what the Torah said would happen. Our "Messiah" is dead. We've been following this guy for three years, and now he's dead.
This is what Saturday looked like.
Then on Sunday, Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus was back. People saw him. He was hanging out with the apostles again. The Messiah has risen. The prophecy has been fulfilled. This is the Christ. That's what Sunday looked like. A few weeks later, Jesus left again to sit at the right hand of God. Jesus wasn't there anymore, but God's Spirit descended from Heaven in Acts 2 to guide the way until Jesus' next return.
If you've ever felt the emptiness of a breakup, been punched in the face by divorce, or abandoned at the Grand Canyon, multiply that hollow feeling by one million. That's what Saturday felt like following his death. Our Savior is dead. He's not coming back. He lied to us. How would your faith have looked on Saturday? The great thing about the Christian faith is just that - faith.
As Hebrews says, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Saturday was the day where a line was drawn in the sand. He's gone, but do you still believe? Are you certain? Today, we find ourselves in the same situation. Waiting. Hoping. Yet still certain of what we do not see.
