I absolutely adore Easter Sunday. It's fair to say that I spend most of Easter weekend eagerly anticipating what's to come. And my expectations are high - celebrating my faith, time with friends, eating plenteously. I know what's coming and I'm impatient for it to happen.
I often wonder, though, what the original Jesus followers thought.
And I also wonder what the next day, after the first Good Friday, would have felt like.
Holy Saturday is referred to in one short sentence in Luke:
In their shoes, I couldn't have been obedient to traditional Jewish law. My faith in religious activity would be shattered and broken. My emotions would have been beyond any command to rest. And I'm certain I would not have been able to.
As for expectations? Any belief left would be exhausted or confused. Jesus was dead and everyone watched it happen. How could there be any hope for the future?
I watched the controversial Noah film this weekend and it was incredibly interesting. What I liked most was its interpretation of Noah's humanity and struggle to make big decisions. And it reminded me that Noah, whatever the specifics of his story, had to believe in something difficult with huge expectations of what would happen next.
Holding onto hope and belief is so often difficult. Not just in the Bible but in our lives too.
Yet the significance of Jesus's resurrection is somewhat lost to us. We've heard it claimed so many times in our lives that we can't comprehend what it really meant to the people who heard it first.
What if we tried to strip back our expectations of Easter and see it afresh? To really comprehend the hope and belief that Easter Sunday brings?
"He is not here, he is risen."
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