Silent Saturday
March 31, 2018
Scripture Reading: John 20:1-18
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ’ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her. –John 20:11-18
Just before I left for college, the wife of the minister at my church handed me a copy of the song Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus and told me to remember its advice when any dark moments came. I still take this advice today.
O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!
Refrain:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace*.
Reportedly based on Hebrews 12:2, I thought of this hymn immediately when I read the above scripture. Until the person Mary encountered called her by name, she had not realized that he was Jesus, now the risen Lord. Grief is blinding at times. We cannot see through our shock and tears. Our full attention is internalized and will remain there until we decide ourselves to seek that which is outside ourselves. The wisdom of my Pastor’s wife was introducing me to a tool that helps me look outside myself in times of trouble searching for the presence that is always there when we focus on finding the Lord.
Of course, the ultimate role model for practicing the presence of God is Jesus. He spent the night before his arrest and trial in the garden communing with God. He called out to God from the cross and surrendered his soul to God at his death. On this Silent Saturday, we, too, would benefit from communing with God in preparation for tomorrow when Christ shines so bright we cannot help but see him.
Prayer:
Commune with me
commune with me
Between the wings of the cherubim
Commune with me**. Amen
*First verse and refrain from the hymn Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus by Helen H. Lemmel see at http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/Turn_Your_Eyes_upon_Jesus/
**The first part of the song Commune with me by Kirk Dearman. See at http://www.tfbchurch.com/uploads/2/1/0/1/210144/commune_with_me.txt