About Easter

About Easter
(Vinod Anand)

Every year, Holy Week replays the story of —‘betrayal, abandonment, humiliation, violence, injustice and ultimately death. On Good Friday we focus on the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and Easter Sunday on his glorious resurrection. But what about the Saturday between? For most, while sombre church services for Good Friday are a given, Saturday is spent in getting ready for Easter celebrations; cleaning, cooking, last-minute shopping, preparing for time with family and friends. The often-bypassed Holy Saturday, before Easter, is a time of no longer, not yet. A threshold place, a liminal space, a very difficult place to be; a place where ‘nothing seems to be happening’; one that we often will do anything to move away from. Yet it is in this strange space of uncertainty, of hope entwined with doubt, where, if we can be still and silent and open, true learning can happen. In the Eastern Orthodox churches, it is called Great Saturday, a day of silence, of watchful expectation, TREE when mourning is being transformed into joy. It is a slow process, because we need to feel it, understand its power. In Greek the term is: ‘xarmolipi’, bitter-sweetness or joyful- sadness.

The sadness is oddly called joyful, because we already know the outcome; have known it for over 2,000 years. We feel the sorrow of Good Friday— yet, in a day, we are sure, all will be well. However, for Jesus’ followers, who did not know for sure, it was a day of extreme sadness, pain and bewilderment. The one they had loved and had given up everything for, around whom they had shaped their lives, had been put to death, cruelly. Some had hoped Jesus would have used his ‘powers’ to escape dramatically, some were still dazed and unbelieving that it had all ended this way. Now they were coping with a churning of uncomfortable emotions of puzzlement, sadness, anger, doubt, guilt.

They had to make choices. Would they hide away in sorrow and fear? Disband and go their separate ways? Would they remain together? Who would decide for them, lead them? It was a time of no answers; only questions. Holy Saturday speaks most directly to the daily reality of our lives, evoking much about the human condition. There have been times for all of us, when the suffering that we experience because of pain, grief or sorrow is so intense, that we don’t know if we will ever feel joy or even comfort again. Often at crucial turning points in our lives, we may be called to give up or let go of loved ones, possessions, homeland, cherished beliefs, security, and identity. And the way ahead is filled with uncertainty, despair, perhaps a slow draining of hope. Holy Saturday is a reminder of such days — a ‘threshold day’, one that lies in-between; a day of waiting, to slow down and breathe, to pray for guidance and light, of reminding ourselves of Jesus’ teachings on neighbourliness and community and fearless love, reminding us, when grief lays hold of us, to turn to one another for love and support.

But this day has become one of preparation in busy action, when it should be spent in silence and reflection. In our silence, we remember and acknowledge our gratitude at having overcome numerous earlier dark times to pray for grace in our current in-between times, for faith, courage and hope. Knowing the next day will be one of victorious celebration, we renew our commitment to carry on Jesus’ message in our actions, not through words alone.