Day 40—Holy Saturday, April 19, 2025

Luke 24:1-12

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest.  Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, went to the tomb expecting the usual. Tombs are places of remembrance, sites of memory allowing those still living to keep those who have died physically present in time, space, and place. These women, in visiting the tomb, are prepared to remember Jesus. As they prepare to ritually cover Jesus’ body in the spices and ointment, they expect to share stories, to shed tears, and to remember.

Yet, two men in dazzling clothes stand beside them in the tomb, asking them not to remember Jesus as the teacher they have lost, but to remember one teaching in particular. Remember how he told you, “that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again? (verse 7).” This teaching of Jesus’ that seemed like nonsense is now one of God’s promises fulfilled.

I’ll be the first to admit that writing about Holy Saturday before Lent begins feels difficult. Especially when we enter Lent as a congregation that has been going through a lot this winter – from the death of several beloved members, to folks within the church losing family members not connected to the church, and to the worries people carry for their loved ones with government jobs. I do not know where we will be by the time you read this, but as I sit with my worry in writing this, the hope in this text of God’s fulfilled promise in the resurrection of Jesus hits me once more.

Just as the empty tomb surprised the women, we too will be surprised by Jesus. Even when we think it’s all over, it’s time to pack up and go home and curl up under the covers. Even when we’re ready to buy into the lie that death and destruction has won – Easter comes. With God, the impossible is the possible. With God, even the outlandish promises of new life is fulfilled.

If you’re reading that and thinking “yeah, sure, Isabella.” I invite you to listen and (perhaps to sing) a simple hymn I often turn to when I need to remember what God asks me to remember – God’s promises fulfilled, God’s perpetual working towards a new thing, God’s penchant for resurrection.

The hymn goes like this:

Goodness is stronger than evil; love is stronger than hate;

Light is stronger than darkness; life is stronger than death.

Victory is ours, victory is ours, through God who loves us.

-Words by Rev. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Hymn by John Bell.

Friends, may we remember. Not just what happened on the third day after Jesus was crucified a long time ago, but may we remember that our God is God who fulfills their promises, in whom goodness is stronger than evil, and in whom victory will come.

-The Rev. Isabella Fagiani