Mosaic by AntanO, used under CC BY-SA 4.0 license
I’ve mentioned how the church in which I grew up did not observe Easter, and so I certainly didn’t learn anything about other traditions around the holiday until I was well into adulthood. Even then, I’ve noticed that though most people I know observe Good Friday in some fashion and certainly observe Easter, not too many think much about Holy Saturday.
In fact, traditions vary as to what happened during this time. Theologians have debated it for centuries, and so we aren’t likely to resolve it in this little post. Still, it has always piqued my interest.
Based on 1 Peter 4:6, some believe on this day that Jesus descended into Hades, the realm of the dead, and preached salvation to the righteous souls there. I suspect that no matter how we look at it, we run into dog-and-cat theology, i.e., we just can’t understand what happened between 3 p.m. or so Friday and 6 a.m. Sunday. But I tend to go along with those who point out that it was, after all, the Sabbath. Despite their grief, the disciples still rested on the Sabbath Day, because they followed the commandment (Luke 23:56).
Jesus may have preached to the dead during the interval. After all, the Jews reckoned days from sundown to sundown, so the Sabbath ended on what we would consider Saturday night. A lot could have happened between then and Sunday morning.
But I think for Jesus the Sabbath was the Sabbath. Let’s face it; he had had a hard week. He had a lot ahead of him. God Himself rested after the creation. Jesus sets an example for us. Surely he rested on the Sabbath. I like to think that he did. It somehow makes the tremendous work of Friday and Sunday that much more impactful—as if it could be any less.
Peace.