It’s a funny old day, Easter Saturday. It doesn’t really have it’s own name like the others: Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. It’s just Saturday. The shops still open; the churches remain empty; sport continues as usual; people do their shopping/laundry/lawn-mowing (except for the Sunday die-hards)… It’s a nothing sort of day. I think the early church tried to make it a day of anticipation; a day of waiting… But, that quickly petered out and it went back to being just an ordinary Saturday.
I wonder what happened that first Saturday. Being the Sabbath, they couldn’t do anything about arranging the funeral, neither could they keep themselves busy with work…they just had to wait. I know what it’s like to lose a loved one. Those first few days can be a bit of a fog. Your emotions range from disbelief to overwhelmimng sadness, to anger, to a dead sort of numbness. They wouldn’t have been any different except that, considering the circumstances, the shock and disbelief would be stronger. Why, just the night before they’d all been having dinner together, celebrating the Passover. Then, in the blink of an eye, he was arrested and…well, you know the rest.
They were in that space between mind-numbing disappointment and grief, and mind-blowing revelation and realised dreams. They were in the waiting zone.
I don’t know about you but, on a much smaller scale, I’ve experienced lots of “Easter Saturday” experiences. There were times when the diagnosis wasn’t good, or the relationship had broken, or the offer had been rejected and I was just left hanging; waiting…waiting…waiting… Eventually the circle turns and good things happen again, but there’s always that in-between time. What do I do then? I guess it’s a good time to regroup and to ask myself some important questions: who and what matters in my life; could I have done anything differently or better; what’s stopping me from trying again…? That sort of thing. It’s also time to express some of those negative feelings; to have a good cry. It’s healthy to do some grieving. Then, we wait for the sun to rise again. And it will. Happy Easter, everyone.