Written by professors, graduates, and others in
the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary community, these reflections, prayers, and spiritual practices will take you along the journey with Jesus through the cross toward resurrection.
Saturday, April 19, 2014
• Matthew 27:57–66
On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.
As a child my Easter memories include a new dress each year, leaving the house early to “get a seat” at our church, and the beginning somber tone of the opening hymn.
“Lo, in the grave he lay, Jesus my Savior.
Waiting the coming day, Jesus, my Lord.
Vainly they watch his bed … Vainly they seal the dead…”
The first two verses of this hymn represent the totality of my childhood understanding of Holy Saturday. Our church was non-liturgical, a term I didn’t know, along with Lent and Holy Week. It was surely for the joyous chorus this hymn was chosen each year.
“Up from the grave He arose … Hallelujah, Christ arose.”
As an adult, and in large part because of my seminary professor Alan Lewis, I came to appreciate the day which stands “at the interface of cross and resurrection.” Dr. Lewis invited students to explore Holy Saturday from the perspective of the disciples, whose Lord was dead and whose body was sealed in a tomb. They experienced this day without hope and without knowledge of the astounding resurrection power of God.
In a way similar to the guards’ sealing of Christ’s tomb, our lives can become closed off to the resurrection power of God. But through the spiritual discipline of self-reflection, the “stone” that blocks our pathway, can also be “rolled away.”
In remembrance of this day between cross and resurrection, set aside time for honest self-reflection.
What promises of God have you failed to believe?
What blessings have you refused to receive?
Are there kindnesses you have withheld from others; gifts not extended that could have been freely given; those who have asked for forgiveness and have been refused?
Dr. Lewis reminded us that, “just like Christ, the church and those who live and die within it exist not for ourselves, but for the world.” Through the discipline of self-reflection, we understand how we have failed others in the world.
Through it also, we acquire the knowledge to make amends.
Gracious God, in all places we have sealed our hearts from resurrection power, open them, we pray. Make us mindful that your promises are trustworthy and your blessings are freely given. Grant us the grace to serve as Christ served, to forgive as Christ forgave, and to love as Christ loved. Amen.
– The Reverend Dr. Karen Greif (MDiv’92, DMin’06)
Co-founder, Cancer Connection, Austin, and member, Austin Seminary A ssociation Board
For the glory of God and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is a seminary in the Presbyterian-Reformed tradition whose mission is to educate and equip individuals for the ordained Christian ministry and other forms of Christian service and leadership; to employ its resources in the service of the church; to promote and engage in critical theological thought and research; and to be a winsome and exemplary community of God's people.
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