Easter Saturday, day of sorrow

OPINION: Easter Saturday is the day of sorrow. The disciples had just seen their Lord and Master die on a Roman cross and had left Jerusalem feeling dejected, crushed, and desperate for understanding.

Their dreams had been shattered. An all-too familiar human experience. Maybe you have been there recently: the death of a loved one, loss of health, retrenchment, depression, bankruptcy or unexpected trauma. That’s Easter Saturday.

It symbolises the despair felt by the followers of Jesus as their Lord lay dead in a tomb.

The forces of hell thought they finally had the victory and Satan, who’d inspired Judas to betray Jesus, must have been painting the town red.

Two disciples expressed this sense of hopelessness well in a conversation with a mysterious stranger.

They shared with their new companion on that road trip to Emmaus about how their great adventure with Jesus had all come crashing down with his fatal arrest.

“The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.” (Luke 24:20-21, New International Version Bible).

At times, we are like those two disciples. Jesus is walking with us, but we don’t recognise him in our pain.

“We had hoped” so poignantly expresses our sentiment. The hope of Sunday hasn’t dawned on us yet.

It’s in those Easter Saturday moments, when God seems absent, that he is in fact close to us and is often mysteriously preparing us for something far greater.