Buried with Christ
Wall mosaic of entombment of Jesus near Stone of anointing at Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Readings: Job 14:1-14, 1 Peter 4:1-8, Matthew 27:57-66, Psalm 31:1-4, 15-16
Focus Text: “When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock.” - Matthew 27:57-60a
On Holy Saturday the Church commemorates Christ lying in his tomb until his resurrection on Easter Sunday. Appropriately, Christians experience Holy Saturday as the day of waiting and anticipation before Easter Sunday. Thus we have the collect for today in the daily office readings:
O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Yet, as the collect suggests, Holy Saturday is likewise the day of the buried.
Job describes the final lot of the buried, of those who, like Jesus, have been “laid low”:
‘For there is hope for a tree,
if it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.
But mortals die, and are laid low;
humans expire, and where are they? [1]
Unlike the tree stump, which can be resuscitated, once we have died, we cannot be revived; there is no life within us to sprout again.
Yesterday, on Good Friday, the Church not only commemorated Christ’s crucifixion and death, but also his burial in Joseph’s tomb, which took place before sundown in the Gospel narratives.
In the reading from St. Matthew’s Gospel, Joseph of Arimathea finds himself laying Jesus down into the tomb he had purchased for himself. This must have been quite a strange experience, to see someone else lying in your own tomb.
The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb, Oil and tempera on limewood, Hans Holbein the Younger c.1520-1522.
Yet, as St Paul tells us, we have also been buried with Christ in baptism. [2] Christ’s tomb is Joseph’s tomb. Christ’s tomb is our tomb, and of all those who have been buried with him in baptism. Today, therefore, on Holy Saturday, we may contemplate having been buried with Christ.
Consider: When Joseph laid Jesus in his tomb, he also buried a wounded Jesus: wounded from his agony, arrest, beating, scourging, mockery, abandonment, humiliation, betrayal, and finally crucifixion under the authority of imperial power with the approval of religious leaders who judge, scold, condemn, and reject him.
Meditation: If you have been buried with Christ, then Christ’s tomb is your tomb. If that is the case, then whose wounds have been buried with him?
On Holy Saturday we are invited to lay down our wounds, agonies, worries, obsessions, deep sorrows, betrayals, shame, and guilt into this tomb, with Jesus, who has “suffered in the flesh” for us. [3] Instead of trying on our own, to “let go” and “move on” from what pains us, why not lay them down to be buried with Christ?
Prayer: Jesus, Suffering Servant [4], your grave is my grave, your wounds are my wounds. I give you my sorrows, losses, injuries, pains, griefs, abandonments, burdens, fears, missed opportunities, shame, grudges, and indeed everything that does not derive from love. Today I lay them down into your tomb, buried with you. Take them from me. Save me in your steadfast love! Amen.
M. F. Davidson
Holy Saturday, 2024
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[1] Job 14: 7,10
[2] Col. 2:12
[3] 1 Peter 4:1
[4] Isaiah 53: 1-12
Scripture references from the New Revised Standard Bible (NRSV).
This meditation is a revised version of its publication in Glimpses of Grace, a collection of daily devotions by and for the people of the Parish of St. Matthew in Pacific Palisades, California in 2022.