"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the sinful nature God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful humanity to be a sin offering."
(Romans 8:1-3)
It is hard for us to imagine the Saturday Jesus' disciples must have spent immediately following his death. Healings, mass feedings, the calming of storms, resurrections...they had seen enough in the few years that they followed him to make them proclaim him as Messiah, most likely joining the crowds that welcomed him into Jerusalem the previous Sunday in wanting to make him king. Now, they find themselves in hiding, uncertain of what has just happened...more uncertain about what would follow.
Jesus had certainly given them warning. He had told them that he had to go to Jerusalem and that there he would die. For whatever reason, they either didn't understand or chose not to consider the gravity of his words. What had it all meant? What would happen next?
What they did not seem to know in those dark hours between Friday and Sunday was that the work of salvation had already been done. God had sent his Son in human form to be a sin offering...an atoning sacrifice for all. John would later write in I John 4:9-10, "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." Their grief most likely clouded their minds for he had told them of the sacrifice required of him. He also told them of resurrection, a joy that would confront their grief in a matter of hours.
Disappointment, weariness, and grief at times foster a sense of condemnation that deflates hope. The news these disciples would later remember...news we still need to remember, is that Christ has set us free from sin and death...the dark places of Saturday cannot hold captive the sacrifice of love that has paid for our sin.
Prayer: May your presence, dear Lord, overcome the darkness of Saturday as we remember the words and action of love in the sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus, the Christ. Amen.
Jim Abernathy
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