The Gospels Go Silent

Mosaic from Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem

It's Holy Saturday, but there are no Gospel readings today. There is no reference to this time between Jesus' burial in the tomb and the women finding the tomb empty in any of the Gospels. It's silent; no mention of how the disciples spent the Sabbath, no mention of their emotions. I want to know, what did they do on that horrible day? Were they together talking, weeping, hiding? Or were they scattered, alone, afraid, feeling despondent? Could they muster up the courage to join their families and celebrate the Sabbath?

Why did the writers of the Gospels leave these details out? Was it too difficult to share? Did they think it unimportant? I can understand not wanting to share that kind of grief, but how are those who weren't there to fully understand this part of discipleship?

How can I fully appreciate the pain if they don't tell me about it? I know the end of the story, but the disciples didn't know what was coming.  What was it like for them? Did they lose all faith? Their experience could be very helpful to us when we suffer. As we are going through those tough times we don't know the end of the story either. 

There was no escape from the reality of it - Jesus was dead. Not only was he dead, he was crucified! He died like a criminal - tortured, beaten, mocked and hung on a cross for all to see. The person the disciples called Rabbi (Teacher) was killed! This Rabbi that they left their families, homes and jobs for was killed for his politics and beliefs. How do you recover from something like that? Surely you don't just go back home, resume your job and act as if the last three years didn't happen!

On this day the disciples could not do what we modern-day Americans do, throw themselves into work, because it was the Sabbath. A holy day of rest; a celebration of God's creation. Can you celebrate God's creation when you feel like your world has just ended? Did the disciples take comfort in the ritual and liturgy of the day or did it pierce their souls?

Psalm 95 is part of today's lectionary and part of the Sabbath service (according to my online research). In the meditation that I read today from Nashotah House, Dennis Sylva, Ph.D. breaks the Psalm down. He states that in the midst of the Psalm, verses 3-5, "the psalmist writes that the reasons for this joy are the greatness of God and his control of the wild, uninhabitable places..." He reminds us that "in the hand(s) of Yahweh is nourishment in desolateness."

I imagine that the disciples felt desolate. I wonder, did they take comfort in Psalm 95? Did they see this as a reminder that God was with them, even in their grief? Or did they feel betrayed by God? Did they feel betrayed by their religious leaders? Were they able to speak the words of praise and hope that are part of the Sabbath? Can we speak praise and hope in the midst of our desolation?

Maybe the silence is the story. Maybe on this Holy Saturday we are to be silent too. In the silence we can grieve, we can ask God where He is. Then we can listen for His whisper, the whisper of hope and joy to come. 

Psalm 95

O come, let us sing to the Lord;
   let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
   let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
For the Lord is a great God,
   and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth;
   the heights of the mountains are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,
   and the dry land, which his hands have formed.

O come, let us worship and bow down,
   let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our God,
   and we are the people of his pasture,
   and the sheep of his hand.

O that today you would listen to his voice!
   Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
   as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your ancestors tested me,
   and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
For forty years I loathed that generation
   and said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray,
   and they do not regard my ways.”
Therefore in my anger I swore,
   “They shall not enter my rest.”