Silent Saturday - 2026

 

So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there. (John 19:40–42 ESV).

 

Holy Saturday is often known as “Silent Saturday.” It does not get much attention in the life of the Church. Most of us mark Maundy Thursday with communion, Good Friday with a dark liturgy of worship, and Easter Sunday with an explosive celebration. However, Holy Saturday is the day that we need to acknowledge God’s silence. This day is one in which we sense God’s inaction. Holy Saturday is the day we begin to feel the sting of death and sense the sadness that death has spoken the final word.

 

Mary Magdalene must have felt the deepest of grief on Holy Saturday. She was a tormented outcast who was healed by Jesus and had been welcomed as part of His entourage. Mary deeply loved Jesus. He was everything to her! Holy Saturday must have been so disappointing for Mary. We don’t have a record of what she did on Saturday. As a Jew, Mary’s activity on the Sabbath would have been very restricted. There was not much she could do on Holy Saturday. The silence of Saturday must have signaled a new normal that was so, so disappointing to embrace. Jesus had filled her life with so much goodness, beauty, and purpose and now He was gone for good. You may know the feeling. Perhaps you've been where Mary was at that moment. There are those times in our lives when things have gone horribly awry and you're wondering "Where is God at the very moment that I need Him?"

 

He is present. Life in a Holy Saturday season is hard, but it is not hopeless. High praise is coming on Sunday, but not until we pass through the crushing silence of Saturday. If you find yourself in a Holy Saturday season of feeling abandoned by God, prayers unheard and unanswered, remember you are in good company. And, like Mary, you will have your sunrise moment when Jesus shows His good work in your life!