Good morning…
Today, Holy Saturday, is the final day of Holy Week between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. It commemorates the day when the crucified body of Jesus rested in the darkness of the tomb. Many Christians believe that while his body was in the tomb, Jesus’ soul descended into the realm of the dead to liberate those who had died before his coming.
Don’t be afraid! I am the first, the last, and the living one. I died, but now I am alive forever, and I have the keys to death and the world of the dead (Revelation 1:17b-18, CEV).
In reciting the Apostles Creed, we say that Jesus “descended into hell” following His crucifixion and death. Jesus is no stranger to the depth of darkness. “The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty.”
“Everything incubates in darkness,” writes Sue Monk Kidd on page 148 of When the Heart Waits. “And I knew that the darkness in which I found myself was a holy dark. I was incubating something new. Whenever new life grows and emerges, darkness is crucial to the process. Whether it’s the caterpillar in the chrysalis, the seed in the ground, the child in the womb, or the True Self in the soul, there’s always a time of waiting in the dark.”
The caterpillar in the chrysalis, the seed in the ground, the child the womb, the True Self in the soul, and the body of Jesus resting in the tomb while his soul spends three days in hell, there is always a time of waiting in the dark. Whenever new life grows and emerges, holy darkness is crucial to the process.
As I write in the darkness of this Holy Saturday, I realize anew: “There is no place you and I will go that Jesus has not been. Jesus himself incubated in the darkness of hell, before rising again, ascending into heaven, sitting beside our Father forever.”
Might we all go through some form of hell on our way heaven? Waiting with us in the darkest of dark, Jesus unlocks our eternal new life.
…Sue…
