On Saturday Jesus’ friends and family were mourning and preparing funeral arrangements, as are millions of people today, grieving over the death of a loved one in the Corona-virus Pandemic.
I think of two people I personally knew about, who died tragically in World War II. Jonathan Anderson, my father’s best friend. Ten years later my brother was named for that friend, the sorrow, the hole, never quite filled.
Percy Carpenter died in WWII, and left a wife, Ruth, and baby daughter, Vivian — to be raised without a father, a father she never knew. Vivian, with her husband, Ralph, our neighbors, raised three boys who never knew their grandfather. Those two WWII deaths have had an effect, even today, on me and a wide range of people.
We are experiencing a new wave of deaths, more than those of WWII. The far reaching and inter-generational impact is staggering.
On Holy Saturday we grieve with Jesus’ followers, mother, siblings, cousins, and friends. The shocking turn of events: sudden death. On Saturday they were making funeral arrangements in shock. They were in despair, hopes dashed, all was lost, life would never be the same. Due to temporary blindness, their grief was real.
But for those in Hell or Hades, Saturday was their Resurrection Day, even though they had never known Jesus! Some came out of their graves after Jesus died (Matthew 27:52), others were released from death by Jesus before Sunday (Apostles Creed, John 5:25; 1 Peter 3:19; Ephesians 4:8-10 etc.). In the Grand Scheme, Sunday is for the Living, but Saturday is the day to celebrate the resurrection of the dead.
On Sacred Saturday we celebrate a Blessed Hope for the already dead, those who have died in the wars, including the Pandemic War.