Lent Devotional 20

Today is the Saturday before Easter or Holy Saturday. The ancient traditions of the church recognize that Holy Saturday was when Jesus’ body lay in the tomb. In the Catholic Tradition Holy Saturday should be the quietest day of the year, but for our family an Easter Egg hunt and the arrival of out of town family has not made this a quiet day. But this is a good day.

When I woke up this morning I was thinking that the Saturday of the last week of Jesus’ life was a time of transition and confusion. It was the day when death seemed to have conquered life and a day before the realization that life could defeat death. This is a reality which seems strangely familiar and normal to me.

When I was in high school I was fortunate enough to have a friend who owned his own car. It was a 1960 Ford Falcon with no pick up and a marginal radio. But it, and my friend, were reliable providers of transportation. For that I was and am thankful.

One Friday night when a group of us arrived for the football game, we found the car parked unlocked in the parking lot outside Bryant Stadium. As a joke we opened the car and rolled it across the lot and hid it in the shadows under a large oak tree. We thought it was funny as he searched for the car. On Monday we did not think it was so funny as we walked home from school.  

Have you ever lost a car? You knew where you left it, but it was not there. Had it been stolen? Had you gone to the wrong place? Were you going crazy as you walked up and down the rows of cars pushing the button of you remote?  Then one row over there is a faint “beep”. As you draw closer there it is. It was never lost or stolen. It was right where you left it.

Easter Saturday is a time of waiting and looking for something that is lost. Easter is when we realize what seemed to be lost…. never was.

Have a glorious Easter Day and

SHALOM,

Tom Mc