Lenten blog | April 4, 2026

Holy Saturday

Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches.  These are the suggested readings for April 4th:  Job 14:1-14 or Lamentations 3:1-9, 19-24; Psalm 31:1-4, 15-16; 1 Peter 4:1-8; and Matthew 27:57-66 or John 19:38-42.  I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.

Matthew and Luke use the earlier Gospel of Mark as the template for their own Gospels.  Mark is the most primitive of the Gospels.  Mark describes Joseph of Arimathea primarily as a member of the council, the Sanhedrin, who was “himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God.” (15:43)  Matthew refines this description from a later perspective.  He leaves out the Sanhedrin reference and places his primary emphasis on the new and previously unknown description of Joseph as: “Was himself a disciple of Jesus.” 

Mark explains that Joseph “went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.” (15:43)  This is a bold action because the Romans displayed the rotting corpses on their crosses to increase the deterrent effect of opposing the Empire.  Pilate could have reacted harshly to Joseph’s request, and it was not healthy to be on the wrong side of the authorities.  Furthermore, crucifixion was intended to be a drawn-out form of execution.  Pilate is surprised that after only six hours Jesus is dead.  He, therefore, checks with the centurion to make sure that Jesus “had been dead for some time.” (15:44)  With the centurion’s confirmation, Pilate grants Joseph the body.  None of this is recorded in Matthew’s account of Joseph requesting and receiving Jesus’ body. 

In Mark, all of this takes place after the day of Preparation had arrived at sunset.  This necessitates swift action on the part of Joseph to bury the body.  It is simply wrapped in a linen cloth and then laid “in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock.” (15:46)  This is a rather vague reference as to where the burial took place so Matthew updates the received tradition and writes instead, “[Joseph] laid it in his new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock.”  Then both Evangelists tell us the tomb was closed by rolling a stone against the entrance to the tomb. 

This is where Mark’s description ends – outside the closed, random tomb that held Jesus’ corpse.  But Matthew continues.  Matthew adds a passage that falls on today, the day after the crucifixion.  The religious authorities approach Pilate and warn about a possible deception that could prove more devastating than all of Jesus’ lived ministry.  They suggest that Jesus’ disciples could steal the corpse and proclaim the falsehood of His resurrection.  Pilate does not need a resurrected Messiah to stir up the people so he orders, “‘You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.’ So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.” 

Why add this Holy Saturday account to Mark’s version?  It is quite possible that denials were circulating in opposition to the Christian proclamation of Easter that Jesus had not resurrected, but that His body had been stolen.  This accusation had not yet surfaced at the earlier time of Mark’s Gospel, but it was well-known by the time of Matthew.  Accordingly, Matthew debunks the possibility of a grave robbery by creating the story of the guard of soldiers who sealed the tomb. 

This unreliable description does not offend or threaten my faith because the Evangelist is not a reporter.  The Evangelist is responding to a challenge that has traction within his community, and that challenge is from those who deny the resurrection.  They are saying the corpse was stolen.  This, to me, is a backhanded confirmation of Easter.  The believers and the deniers both agree that the tomb was empty.  The deniers posit grave robbery while the believers proclaim Easter.  The soldiers are stationed outside the tomb on Holy Saturday in Matthew’s Gospel to counter the accusation of a stolen body.  This is not in Mark’s original and it may never have happened, but much more importantly is the confirmation by non-believers that the tomb was empty.

There is no Easter proof.  Easter will always be a matter of faith.  But the tomb was empty.  This is not the time to go into the possibility that Mark hints at in his Gospel that after Jesus’ arrest the disciples give-up and disperse.  They go back to Galilee, to their previous lives before Jesus.  Their experiment with Jesus as the Messiah is now in the past.  Is this why the women hear inside the empty tomb that they are to tell the “disciples and Peter” (16:7) that Jesus will meet them in Galilee?  If this is the case, there is nowhere near enough energy or conviction to raid Jesus’ tomb, dispose of His body, and then only on the basis of this known deception begin a proclamation of Easter that will eventually encircle the globe.  But even so, Easter is never going to be proved.  It is always going to be a question of faith.

I hope and pray that our time together over these 40 Lenten days have strengthened and grown our faith so that on this last day of Lent we can look with our mind’s eye at the sealed tomb and believe in our heart of hearts that Jesus’ story, that our story with Jesus, is far from over.  I invite you to join us, rain or shine, for a Sunrise Service across the street from the American Legion in Hatfield at 6:20am on Easter Sunday, and then to join us in the church sanctuary for worship and Communion beginning at 9:30am.  Thank you for walking along this Lenten journey with me. And if you would like to continue sharing a discussion about the biblical text, I encourage you to join us for our online Bible study.

If you would like to join us for our online Bible study, please send an email to [email protected] for the Zoom logins.
​
If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule:  www.sneucc.org/lectionary.