Lent 2008: Week 6, Day 6
Holy Saturday
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. He then rolled
a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene
and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb. Matthew 27:57-61
(Note: The following was written by Jesuit Priest, Rev. Nathan Stone, of Dallas)
By Nathan Stone, SJ
This is the most difficult topic. Jesus is buried, and with
him, the beatitudes, the parables, the healings, the hopes, the love of the
Father and salvation. The Kingdom of God is placed in the
tomb. Nothing is
left of the Jesus project. The Messiah is dead. The disciples are
dispersed. Everything has become frustration and humiliation. How can we go
on? Why would we continue?
We find ourselves face to face with
the dark night of a forgotten promise, a broken alliance, a God who abandons
his own son, and with him, all humanity and creation itself. We are
confronted with
the paradox of a redeemer overcome by death. The Almighty
has been annihilated by evil. Who will save us, then?
Before
God, a serious complaint wells up. Do you perform miracles for the dead?
Will anyone speak of your goodness and your fidelity in the tomb? Do they
know about your wonders in the place of
darkness? The temptation is to run
from the death of the Savior, as if it weren’t real, as if it weren’t the
same death that awaits all flesh.
Let’s imagine the mother of Jesus, her
heart broken by this final sword: the humiliating death of her son, the one
for whom the angel told her to rejoice, the one she carried in her womb, for
whom she sang
the wonders of the Lord worked within her. Now, that is as if
it had never been.
We find ourselves at a paradoxical crossroads. How
can we understand the Alliance of God with his people in these conditions?
How can we understand the Promised Land? Salvation? The commitment of
protection and never-ending mercy?
This has happened to
Israel before. In Exile, all was lost. They were chained and taken away to
Babylon. In spite of everything, the people, once again captive, as in
Egypt, lose all but hope. God will not abandon. The Lord is there for his
people. He has salvaged the unsalvageable before. The exiles remember their
Exodus. Stubborn in the face of despair, the deported nation refuses to
forget the seemingly vaporized promise. Jerusalem, if I forget thee, may
my right hand dry up! Let my tongue cleave to my palate, if I do not
in mind thee bear, if Jerusalem be not the crowning of my
joy.
Without minimizing the finality of death, how can
we sing the songs of Zion in a foreign land? How can we sing of the
Lord of life when he is in the tomb? What meaning could there be in that?
Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
Let us stand with Joseph of
Arimathea. Let us lend a hand, lower Jesus from the cross, wrap him in new
sheets, and bury him tenderly. Let us simply accompany him, out of love,
facing the questions, which, up to now, have no answers.
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