Saturday and the Silence of the Lamb

During this season, which many Christians call “Holy Week,” I am perversely drawn to Saturday. Perhaps it is because the Saturday between “Good” Friday and Resurrection Day is, for others a sort of relief. For them it is a day off from the relentless grieving and guilt associated with Lent— at least for those who take the Roman faith seriously. For others “Holy Saturday” becomes business as usual or, at best, the last day to buy and sell before Easter.

"I am drawn to Saturday because it is the day between suffering and glory; between accomplishment and vindication. Today is an awkward in-between day that is neither fully this nor fully that. On Friday the attention is on the stations of the cross. On Sunday the attention is, as it ought to be, on the resurrected Savior. On Saturday, however, the attention of the church, such as it is, falls upon the tomb.

"The Heidelberg Catechism has one question devoted to this aspect of our Lord’s humiliation:

"41. Why was He 'buried'?

" To show thereby that He was really dead

"The early versions of the Creed alternated between “sepultus” (buried) and “descendit” (he descended) as synonyms. Eventually, as the doctrine of Jesus’ descent to the place of the dead (ad inferna) or to the dead ones (ad infernos) the “descendit” took on a life of its own and the the “sepultus” was neglected.

"The burial of our Lord was another part of his ignominy. Foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere even to be buried. So Joseph of Arimathea provided a tomb fit for a king. While Jesus was entombed he was silent. Finished were the cries and taunts of the cross but it was not yet time for the triumphal declaration: 'He is risen.'

"Today is a day of silence, and yet the work of salvation, of deliverance from the curse and its effects, continues. We can see the work of salvation on the cross and we see it in the empty tomb, but neither of those means anything without the three days in the belly of the whale, in the womb of death, from which he must emerge.

"Today, God is, as it were, silent but he is not asleep. The tomb is ugly, but it is also sanctus. Today is the in-between time. The first act is finished but the curtain, though torn, is not closed."

For them it is a day off from the relentless grieving and guilt associated with Lent— at least for those who take the Roman faith seriously.

For those who take the Catholic faith seriously, Holy Saturday is/was a day of intense spiritual significance. During the liturgical day (beginning Friday night and ending on Saturday in the evening), it is the only day of the calendar where one will not receive communion (on Good Friday, there is no Mass, but a communion service occurs with hosts consecrated on Holy Thursday). But for those who are to be received into the Church at the Easter Vigil that night, it is an important day of preparation and anticipation.

The liturgical readings for that day indicate this sense of anticipation. For example, this reading from an ancient homily during the Office of Readings:

Something strange is happening – there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.
He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all”. Christ answered him: “And with your spirit”. He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light”.
I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated. For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.
See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.
I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.
Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.

It is, in fact, the final day of preparation. Not hardly a "day off," though.

And one final point of clarification...technically, Lent ends with Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion...though the fasting and abstinence continues until the Resurrection.

(Note: I say this not to barge into your thread, but just as a point of clarification)

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