Welcome

The intent of Pilgrim Processing is to provide commentary on the Daily Lectionary from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. The format for the comment is Old Testament Lesson first, Gospel, and Epistle with a portion of one of the Psalms for the day as a prayer at the end.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

7 April 2012


Holy Saturday

Jeremiah knows that any hope is found in Him.  There is nothing left to say but, “We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven” and “I am lost.”  As he looks about the devastation and destruction he knows that this is actually justice and if there is to be any future he has no choice but to ask the Lord for that future.  Holy Saturday is the day of hopelessness.  The disciples and others had placed their hope in Jesus and had seen everything come to naught as Jesus hung on the cross and God didn’t answer their prayers.  Had they wasted the last three years of their lives?  If they were wrong about this, did anything in life make sense?  What could they possibly do now?  You wonder if they were even able to pray this day after what had just happened. 

On this Sabbath was there rest?  The Sabbath is a day of contemplation, a day of rest from labor but a day to simply take in all that the Lord has done and yet this day what was there to contemplate?  The reality of death, all they had seen, the death of hope, the death of a dream, the end of their own desires for the future, but rest?  Could there be a worse Sabbath than this?  Jesus was in the tomb, they couldn’t go there because Sabbath restrictions wouldn’t allow it.  There were so many emotions swirling it would be nearly impossible to pick one and go with it. Reality had overtaken what had seemed like a new reality.  “They” had won and yet what had they won?  What did it all mean?

O Lord, God of my salvation;
    I cry out day and night before you.
Let my prayer come before you;
     incline your ear to my cry! 

No comments: