Rest. It's Saturday.

Read |Mark 16|

Early Sunday morning the women, who had loved Jesus in life, made their way to Joseph's tomb to tend to His body in death. They rose, along with the sun, to perform their final act of love with the aid of some crushed spices. They rose to put their hope to rest, when just days earlier, they had been amongst the hopeful throng on Palm Sunday singing: "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!" (Luke 19: 37 - 38, CSB). But then Friday happened. On Friday, they saw their hope crucified. On Friday, they witnessed His body broken. On Friday, they witnessed a carnage that made their hearts weak with sorrow and fear.  They had seen what made them forget what He had said: "'It is necessary that the Son of Man suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.'" (Luke 9: 22 - 24, CSB).

In their forgetfulness, all that remained was their own feeble understanding: a recipe for disappointment. And so, we meet them in chapter 16 of Mark's Gospel planning to make peace with a dream bruised and crushed. We meet them on Saturday, after the Sabbath, preparing spices and worrying about who will remove the stone. We meet them laboring post God's declaration of having accomplished the work (John 19: 28 - 30). We meet them, where we often find ourselves, when what we see runs in painful contradiction to what He has promised. We meet them in a frenzy. We meet them worried. We meet them heavy in spirit. We meet them fearful. 

But, the story does not end in their frenzy, worry, heaviness and fear. It can't end there. Instead, it ends just as He said: the stone rolled away and Him risen from the dead. Their forgetfulness did not alter the promises of God. Their forgetfulness did not compromise the integrity of His perfect work. Their forgetfulness did not even disqualify them from entering into the reality of the promise. But, their forgetfulness did rob them of a restful Saturday.​ 

Saturday can be a rough day. It is the day between the tragedy that seeks to form a rival to your faith and the promise made manifest. It is the day of waiting. It is the day of expecting against incredible odds. It is a day of testing. It is also a day of opportunity. In the middle--on Saturday--is an invitation to rest on the promises of God. On Saturday, there is an invitation to shun fear and become pregnant with expectation. On Saturday, there is an invitation to prepare your white dress and shoes for the party that is Resurrection Sunday!

Beloved, it will be just as He said it will be. Rest--it's Saturday.