Easter Devotion: Black Saturday

By Sarah Davis

Kids' Minister

Read Matthew 27:57-66.

A major pet peeve of mine is spoilers. Whether it be a book I’m reading or a show I’m watching, I don’t want to know what’s coming. I want to live in the moment and feel the emotions the characters have. I want to be so surprised that I gasp, or so caught off guard that I laugh. 

Growing up in church, we can become so familiar with the Easter story that we jump from Friday to Sunday, quickly glossing over Saturday without pausing to “live in the moment.”

Let’s put ourselves in one of the disciple’s shoes (or sandals, I guess). Eleven men had turned their life upside down for three years to follow a man who claimed to be The Messiah (and spoiler alert: He was). They gave up their occupations as fishermen, tax collectors, zealots, and carpenters. They stood behind Jesus of Nazareth and waited patiently for their rabbi to free them from their oppressor. 

And then one of their own betrayed Jesus (or maybe he was trying to manipulate Jesus into conquering Rome on his own timeline), and their teacher was arrested and sentenced to death on a cross. 

Now, they had no teacher. They had no income. They had no homes. They had nothing. The community they built over the last three years between each other was gone. They feared for their lives and had to hide. Rome was still oppressing God’s people. Nothing made sense. What did they do it all for?

They were hopeless.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a personal experience that left me with as much hopelessness that the disciples were feeling on Black Saturday – and I thank God for that. But that does make it difficult to put myself in the disciples’ sandals and imagine how they must have really felt. 

Then you get a glimpse of the religious leaders who begged Pilate to put guards at Jesus’ tomb. They recalled Jesus’ teaching about coming back on the third day. Did they think he actually would? No! Of course not! They thought it was a part of a bigger plot by the disciples to start a revolutionary cult and overthrow the religious order. Note how they even refer to Jesus as “that imposter” (Matthew 27:63, ESV). They never saw Jesus for who He truly was.

But we read nothing about the disciples. Where were they? Did they remember Jesus’ teaching? I imagine they were so sad, confused, and angry that they couldn’t pull off a giant conspiracy plot.

Fear drove the religious leaders. Hopelessness drove the disciples. Tension in Jerusalem was at an all time high. What was going to happen next?

Sunday was coming though…and spoiler alert: there’s good news!