Holy Saturday: Catharsis

Job 14:1-14 OR Lamentations 3:1-9, 19-24; Psalm 31:1-4, 15-16; 1 Peter 4:1-8; Matthew 27:57-66 OR John 19:38-42

Different traditions of Christianity emphasize different days of Holy Weekend. The Roman Catholic pilgrims I watched outside the front gate of the seminary--thousands of them--emphasize the penitential aspects of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Some Protestants emphasize the glorious aspects of Easter Sunday, almost to downplay or ignore the very real suffering of Jesus on Good Friday. I try to hold the two of them together in my mind, but I am not always successful. In some ways the day of Holy Saturday is the most important of the two, because in it the turn is made from sorrow to joy. Many churches, in fact, have a midnight worship service in order to emphasize this turn.

The turn from sorrow to joy, especially coming from the penitential season of Lent into the celebratory season of Easter, is a great catharitic experience. There is somewhat of an emotional release, although it is not merely an emotional release. This is the grand old story of the faith. And we are telling it and acting it over again. That is all that needs to be said. That is all that can be said. Amen.