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Luke 23:48-56 , Burial of Jesus

Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today

The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments. On the sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
— Luke 23:55-56

NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, April 3, 2021

by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff

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We all want to rush ahead to the happy ending. I know I do. But the women didn’t have the benefit of hindsight. In the moment, Jesus was dead. And they prepared. Prepared for the ritual anointing of Jesus’ body before letting go forever. And they grieved. Grieved because the man they had followed from the beginning, who they loved, was dead. And they rested. Rested because it was the sabbath, and their God commanded that they rest.

Today is not just a speed bump on the way from Good Friday to Easter. An annoying hold-up before getting to the good part. Today is an essential piece of the good part. A day when we acknowledge that Jesus, God fully embodied in a human person, was dead. It is a day to prepare for a total letting go of all that is into the hands of God. A day to grieve the humiliation, torture, and murder of what we most love. A day to rest from trying to make everything conform to our own narrative, to rest in the knowledge that no matter what happens, no matter how dark and sad, God has this and holds us in our grief and loss.

God, help me to sit in the sadness of this day, to prepare and grieve and rest in your name. Amen.