THE HELL OF HOLY SATURDAY [Sat, 4-8-23]

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith & Life for the Years of Winter—THE HELL OF HOLY SATURDAY [Sat, 4-8-23]

 

There are two traditional ideas about Holy Saturday that I find quite appealing, even though they are in conflict with each other: Jesus preached in hell on that day, and Jesus got bored as hell on that day.

There’s no evidence for either idea, biblical or otherwise [1], but they are intriguing answers to the question: What did Jesus do between the cross and resurrection? What did he do on Saturday? I mean, it seems like such a waste for him to be doing nothing at all. Naturally, folks thought up…

He must have gone to hell to preach the gospel there for the folks who died before Jesus and so had no chance of salvation.

Isn’t it neat to think about the look on the devil’s face when folks started shouting, “Thank you, Jesus” and walked out of hell.

It’s a bit problematic, because it continues the idea that the reason for trusting Christ is to stay/get out of hell in the afterlife, instead of just leading a good life while we have life, but that’s a small caveat. It’s very satisfying to think about Jesus using his “dead time” in such a productive way.

The other approach, and one I preached on sometimes, is that if Jesus did not go to hell to preach there, then he got bored as hell.

I preached that because it seems to me that we normal mortals spend most of our time on Saturday—neither the excitement and drama and intensity of Good Friday or the joy and exultation of Easter Sunday. We are just in the dark in the cave, unholy Saturday, wondering what will happen, wondering if there is a God, wondering if “He’s” forgotten about us.

If we’re patient, though, resurrection happens.

Okay. Two different approaches to Holy Saturday. Take your pick.

John Robert McFarland

1] The Roman Catholic version of The Apostles Creed includes e descended into hell, but that’s just a guess, the one thing in the creed that is not historical.