Holy Saturday

A Reflection for Holy Saturday, April 19 by Eileen Lundy 

Lectionary reading for 4/19/2025: Lamentations 3:1-9, 19-24; Psalm 31:1-4, 15-16; 1 Peter 4:1-8; Matthew 27:57-66 

Selected passage for reflection: Lamentations 3:1-9, 19-24

Read

Lamentations 3:1-9, 19-24 NIV

1 I am the man who has seen affliction

    by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.

2 He has driven me away and made me walk

    in darkness rather than light;

3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me

    again and again, all day long.

4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old

    and has broken my bones.

5 He has besieged me and surrounded me

    with bitterness and hardship.

6 He has made me dwell in darkness

    like those long dead.

7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape;

    he has weighed me down with chains.

8 Even when I call out or cry for help,

    he shuts out my prayer.

9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone;

    he has made my paths crooked.

19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,

    the bitterness and the gall.

20 I well remember them,

    and my soul is downcast within me.

21 Yet this I call to mind

    and therefore I have hope:

22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,

    for his compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning;

    great is your faithfulness.

24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;

    therefore I will wait for him.”

Reflect

The Old Testament book of Lamentations is a song of sorrow written by the prophet Jeremiah in the aftermath of the destruction of Jerusalem. Here in Lamentations chapter 3 Jeremiah cries out in the very standard structure of lament found throughout Scripture. He begins his prayer with a brutally honest expression of where he currently is and what he is thinking and feeling in this space. Jeremiah, God’s chosen servant, basically says, “God, here is where I am and it is your fault. All I hoped for is gone and when I cry out for help you don’t respond” In his crying out to God, Jeremiah doesn’t ask why. Why, is the question that precipitates and lies beneath the surface of lament.

In his prayer of lament Jeremiah tells God honestly what he is thinking and feeling in the present  moment. He remembers what has happened, the destruction, pain and bitterness of it all. But then, he also remembers or perhaps it is that he chooses to remember by “calling to mind” something else he also knows to be true. Jeremiah, remembers the Lord’s steadfast, unchanging compassionate, covenant keeping love.  Perhaps Jeremiah even remembers specific times in which he has encountered and experienced God’s ever new mercies and faithfulness. In this remembering there is a turning which happens in prayers of lament.  Jeremiah makes a shift and  counsels himself to wait for the Lord. Jeremiah reminds himself that the Lord, who is his portion, is the one who supplies what is needed. Jeremiah chooses to trust and believe that God alone is enough. He chooses to wait on God and put his hope in God alone.

Holy Saturday is a place of waiting in the in between. Jesus’ tortured, crucified body lies dead in a tomb barricaded by a stone. The disciples scatter, the one they pledged their lives to is dead and buried; what they had hoped for is gone. The one who they believed to be the promised Messiah, who taught them about life in God’s  kingdom, who would have been their king has been crucified on the cross and lies dead in a tomb. The day we now call holy was for the disciples a horrific Saturday where all hope seemed lost.

Perhaps today you find yourself in a place of hopelessness like the disciples or Jeremiah. Perhaps you are grieving a loss or are living with hard, painful circumstances. Or maybe you are in a time of transition from one thing or place to another and living with some uncertainty regarding your future. Into the seemingly hopelessness of your “Saturday” I invite you to allow Jeremiah to guide you with his yet. “Yet, even in this space, this place of pain, loss, disappointment, devastation and hopelessness;  I will call this to mind and I have hope”. What does Jeremiah call to mind? The steadfast love of God. Jeremiah chooses to rest in God’s compassionate, unchanging, rock solid love. From this place he chooses to wait for the Lord. In this choice he encounters the One who is enough, his portion. In God’s presence this Saturday place becomes holy.

Respond 

Is there a “Holy Saturday” place in your life this year? What words do you need to hear today? Offer prayer of lament, an honest prayer telling God where you are, what you are thinking, what you are feeling , what you need to hear and what you want God to do. Then, sit in the silence and listen for God’s word to you

Rest 

My sisters, may we on this Holy Saturday, remember God’s faithfulness to his promises in the past, trust in his steadfast love and encounter the one who is enough. In the Saturdays of life may we place our hope in the ultimate Sunday when all that is wrong will be made right when God’s kingdom comes in its fullness.

 About the Author 

Eileen Lundy lives in Omaha, Nebraska. She is a bi-vocational pastor, a spiritual director and a recently retired nurse. Eileen is married to Steve, her best friend, and they have 3 adult children. She loves a good story in any form, written, film or spoken.