By: Mike Kelly
Retired Pastor
I decided to stretch Easter out for the entire month of April. So even though all the decorations are down and the altars are no longer bare or covered in black, let’s look at the least known day of the weekend.
“Holy Saturday, also known as Great and Holy Saturday, Low Saturday, the Great Sabbath, Hallelujah Saturday, Saturday of the Glory, Easter Eve, Joyous Saturday, the Saturday of Light, Good Saturday, or Black Saturday.”
Lots of titles for such a vague day. First, we have to understand the Old Testament view of the afterlife was that all people when they died, whether righteous or unrighteous, went to Sheol, aka Hades, a dark, still place.
Holy Saturday commemorates what is called the Harrowing of Hell or Sheol or Hades. (Harrowing means dangerous, frightening, scary.)
While Jesus Christ’s body lay in the tomb, he went to the underworld to preach salvation to those who had lived and died before Friday, starting with Adam and Eve and including such people as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc., but were stuck in the afterlife waiting for Christ’s salvation. In his triumphant descent, Christ brought salvation to the souls held captive there since the beginning of the world.
So, what went on during the original Holy Saturday? The Apostles’ Creed reads Jesus “was crucified, died and was buried; he descended into hell; on the third day he rose again from the dead.”
That comes from Ephesians 4:8-9: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people. In saying, ‘he ascended,’ what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?”
1 Pet. 3:19-20 says “After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits — to those who were disobedient long ago …” In other words, Jesus preached salvation to the lost.
Exactly what he has called us to do today as his disciples. I’ll confess to not knowing much about what went on while Christ was in the tomb, but I know Sunday follows Saturday.
And Sunday is all about an empty tomb and a resurrected Lord. I also know that I am lost without that empty tomb and resurrected Lord. If salvation is based on my life and how well I’ve lived it, I might be in trouble.
After all, what is the line between a life lived well enough to get into heaven and a life not quite good enough? What’s a passing grade? Is life a pass/fail class, or are there degrees of a good life?
If I get an “A,” do I get a mansion near the Throne Room, and if I barely squeak in with a “D-” do I get a small condo out in the boonies? Where do I stack up?
I’ve lived a better life than many I know, but, then, I know many who have lived much better lives than I. Does God grade on the curve, or is it a straight percentage — 70% or higher gets in and 69% or below had better learn to like it hot? That’s too much pressure.
Maybe God’s way is better — trust in Jesus and the salvation he has earned by his life and death and resurrection. Christ is offering that salvation to you today just like he did to the lost souls in Hades on that Saturday long ago.
All they had to do was say “Yes, Lord,” and they left immediately for heaven. All you have to do is realize that you aren’t good enough. We’re not nearly as good as we’d like to believe anyway.
Ask Jesus to forgive you for your sins and ask for his salvation to cover you like it covers others of us. We’re not perfect, never will be, but we are forgiven!
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Mike Kelly is the founding pastor of Bryan’s Grace Community Church (retired) and Board Chairman of Bryan’s Sanctuary Homeless Shelter and Williams County’s Compassion (free) Medical Clinic.
