Come Into The Word with Sarah Christmyer | Bible Study | Lectio Divina | Journals | Retreat

  • About
  • Blog
    • Scripture Reflection
    • Prayer & Lectio Divina
    • Bible Reading & Study
    • Holidays and Holy Days
    • Discipleship
    • Women of the Bible
  • Resources
    • New Release
    • Books & Journals
    • Bible Studies
    • How-tos & Reading Plans
  • Speaking
    • Speaking Topics
    • Schedule
    • Testimonials
    • Reviews & Interviews
    • Past Events
  • Contact

Good Friday, Holy Saturday; ENTERING THE DARK AND THE SILENCE

April 2, 2021 By Sarah Christmyer 1 Comment

Today we enter the darkness.

We feel the betrayal of Judas, then stand at a distance with Peter, deny Jesus ourselves.  Like Peter, we are afraid.  What use is there, for all this suffering?

On Good Friday, we enter into it.  We stand horrified beside the cross.  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We are crushed by the dark.

Tomorrow we suffer the silence.

“Why?” we ask.  Why all the suffering? What kind of God demands it?  It was not God who cried out, “Crucify him!” It was not God who hammered in the nails.  But it was God who accepted that death, who walked willingly toward it, who took on himself the fury and undeserved pain.

Altar of the Nails of the Holy Cross, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem. Photo: Sarah Christmyer.

 

Today we watch in horror.  (Will this be asked of me?)

Tomorrow we suffer in silence.

We are tempted to rush into Sunday, to decorate with eggs and chicks and sweet jelly beans, to wrap our winter wreaths in flowers.  “It’s not about death – it’s about life!” we want to say.

The disciples had to wait three days, and so do we.  “Stay with me.”  Not just in the garden, but at the cross, beside the tomb.  “Stay with me.”  Ponder the fact of his suffering and death.  Ponder his dying words.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” –in that cry, in that emptiest of spaces, God may be silent but he is present.  There is nowhere that he is not.  With that cry, Jesus quotes Psalm 22: the psalmist cries out to God and hears no answer “yet thou art holy,” he says; “in thee our fathers trusted…and thou didst deliver them. […] Men shall tell of the Lord to the coming generation, and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, that he has wrought it.”  Even in the midst of agonizing abandonment, Jesus knows that the final word belongs to God.

“It is finished.”  I love what Richard John Neuhaus says about this: “‘It is finished’ does not mean that suffering and loss and the rivers of tears are things of the past. ‘It is finished’ means that they do not have the last word.  It means that love has the last word.”  (Death on a Friday Afternoon, p. 193)

What is finished is the power of suffering and death to have the last say.  When we face ridicule, persecution, ignominy, death: we are not alone, because the Lord has descended to that lonely place.  We can unite our pain and fear with his, in hope of resurrection.  “It is finished” — but it is not the end.

Do not be afraid to enter the darkness, the silence.  Stay with him awhile.

Without a death, there can be no resurrection.

© 2015, 2021 Sarah Christmyer

 

First published April 3, 2015; Re-published with slight changes 2021.

Filed Under: Holidays and Holy Days, Scripture Reflection Tagged With: Lent/Easter

Comments

  1. Abigail Adams says

    April 7, 2015 at 9:39 am

    “Without a death, there can be no resurrection.”

    This really speaks to me. Just as in life there can be no healing without falling first.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 characters available

Sarah Christmyer writes and speaks about Scripture and the Catholic faith with the goal of helping people meet Jesus in his Word. “The Bible isn’t just a book about God or instructions for a good life; it’s a place to meet God and be changed by him,” she says. Her love of Scripture fuels her writing of Bible studies and related books; her teaching of Philadelphia seminarians; her speaking at conferences and retreats; and writing for blogs such as this one. “Come Into the Word” draws people into the Bible and encourages and equips them to explore it on their own.

Subscribe Here

Sign up to receive new posts and news via email. (Add sarah@comeintotheword.com to your address book to make sure mail arrives in your inbox!)

Search Come Into The Word

Categories

Recent Posts

  • YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU: How to fill your heavenly “handbag”
  • RETURNING TO GOD…AND PRAYERS FOR UKRAINE
  • RETURN: GOD IS CALLING YOU!
  • WHEN THERE ISN’T ENOUGH
  • INTRODUCING MY NEW COLUMN FOR LIGUORIAN MAGAZINE
  • “COME TO JESUS!”—WHATEVER YOUR NEED

Archives

Recommended

  • Integrated Catholic Life – Catholic blogs and resources
  • Lux App and Lux University – online faith hub for women
  • Peter Kreeft – featured writings and audio
  • The Sacred Page (Michael Barber, John Bergsma, Brant Pitre, John Kincaid) – blog
  • Scripture Speaks (Gayle Somers) – commentary on the Mass readings
  • Speaking of Scripture (Mary Healy, Daniel Keating, Peter Williamson, et al) – blog
  • Women in the New Evangelization (WINE) – women’s ministry, book club, blog

 

We engage in affiliate marketing whereby we receive funds through clicks to our affiliate program through this website. This disclosure is intended to comply with the US Federal Trade Commission Rules on marketing and advertising, as well as any other legal requirements which may apply.

 

Let’s Connect

mailfacebook instagram pinterest

Subscribe Here

Sign up to receive new posts and news via email. (Add sarah@comeintotheword.com to your address book to make sure mail arrives in your inbox!)

MENU

  • About
  • Blog
  • Resources
  • Speaking
  • Contact
  • Home

Copyright © 2022 Come into the Word LLC | Site designed by Cynthia Oswald

  • About
  • Blog
    △
    • Scripture Reflection
    • Prayer & Lectio Divina
    • Bible Reading & Study
    • Holidays and Holy Days
    • Discipleship
    • Women of the Bible
  • Resources
    △
    • New Release
    • Books & Journals
    • Bible Studies
    • How-tos & Reading Plans
  • Speaking
    △
    • Speaking Topics
    • Schedule
    • Testimonials
    • Reviews & Interviews
    • Past Events
  • Contact