"If we live, it is for the Lord that we live, and
if we die, it is for the Lord that we die. So whether we live or die, we belong to the
Lord." This Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is called Holy
Saturday. In many ways it is a day that doesn’t seem to be very holy. Eggs have to be
colored, Easter outfits need to be purchased or picked up from the cleaners, the church
sanctuary needs to be decorated for Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday. It is a day which is
in between. By that I mean to say, it doesn’t have the solitude and solemnity of Good
Friday, nor does it have the glory and joy of Easter Sunday. It is a day in the gap. It is
something we go through in order to get to Easter.
Those comforting words of St. Paul’s "we are the Lord’s" are often
read at the graveside funeral service. Families gather together, tears are shed, cemetery
personnel wait for the process to be over, so that the casket can be lowered into the
earth. The pastor reads these words knowing full well that this is another example of
being "in between." We are in between the time of grief and sadness and the hope
and reality of new life in Jesus Christ.
And that’s what makes this Saturday holy, and every other day holy as well. The
hope and comfort of new life in Jesus Christ. "For if we have been united with him in
a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his."
