Living Beyond Saturday: Embracing Resurrection Power

Easter was only a few weeks ago, but it already seems ancient history. Do you ever feel like you are on a giant hamster wheel that never stops, never changes – bouncing from one thing, one event, one responsibility, one deadline to the next – and then doing it all over again tomorrow or next year? Powerless to effect any real change? If Easter is another item on the never-ending list of things to get through, no wonder it fades into the past.    

But that first Easter was a time altering event – we mark our calendars because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was a life altering event for the Apostles and other disciples of Jesus, redefining their entire world view.

So, before we rush headlong into summer, I’d like us to journey back to the Saturday just before Easter because when we start there, we see how life-changing Easter is meant to be and why we don’t want to let it be ancient history.   

On that first Saturday, the day after the crucifixion, the disciples are gathered together. We can imagine the crushing despair, grief, heartache, doubt.  The expectations of what they thought life was going to be like – dashed – buried in the tomb with Jesus. Was Peter agonizing, guilt-ridden over his betrayal from the day prior? Were the others ashamed of their desertion at Gesthemane? Were they wondering, who do we put our hope in now?

On Saturday, Mary Magdelene and the other women were biding their time to come to the tomb once Passover was complete.

The “other women” are only named. We know nothing about them. We don’t know much about Mary Magdelene either. The only biblical fact – a passing statement we find in Luke 8:2 – is that Jesus healed her of 7 demons. But this one statement might illuminate her thoughts on that Saturday.

Demon-possessed people were outcasts of society, driven away, isolated. They were often violent, needing restraints. Some were physically in bondage, blind, mute, or psychologically tormented. Still others were used and abused and some even hurt themselves.

We don’t know what Mary’s specific ailment was. But we can know that whatever her life was like as a demon-possessed woman, it was hard. It was lonely. It left wounds.

When Jesus healed her, he did more than free her from the demons. He embraced her into community. He called her worthy and valuable. And as a result, she became a devoted follower of Jesus.

But on that Saturday, the person who had worked this miracle in her life was dead. What doubts and despair might she have been dealing with?  Will the demons come again? Will I go back to being who I was before? Will I be alone? Isolated? Will the women I have become friends with shun me now? Am I no longer worthy? Will anyone consider me valuable? What can I hope for now?

Have you ever found yourself living in Saturday, identifying with Mary or Peter or any of the disciples?  

We carry guilt, shame, fear, worry, and regrets – believing we are unworthy of love and forgiveness.

We have been hurt and are harboring anger, bitterness, or unforgiveness in our hearts toward those who did the hurting. and we can’t seem to let go and let healing happen.

We have known unexpected life events, tragedy, illness, deaths, and broken relationships, that have crushed our hope, filled us with disillusionment.

We might be mired in Saturday living with heavy stuff. Or, it might be the little things we feel stuck in – attitudes, habits, our choice of words, our choice of food, our choice of friends, our choice of entertainment.

Saturday-living is any situation or circumstance, any thought pattern or attitude where we feel powerless and have conceded defeat. Given life over to death. It’s anything that causes us to wonder What is there for me to hope for?  

The Good News?  We aren’t supposed to live in the defeat of Saturday.

So, let’s bring all of our stuff and join Mary, with all her stuff, at the tomb on that very first Easter morning.

Mary’s experience at the tomb was so impactful, all four gospels give the account of it. There’s something about going to the tomb we need to know. Not just for an Easter that is in our rear-view mirror, but for every single day.

Don’t be afraid.

When Mary went to the tomb on that third day, she was still hurting, still grieving, any and all doubts that might have seeped into her thinking on Saturday were still there. She went to the tomb anyway. An angel met her there and said “do not be afraid” (Mt 28:5, Mk 16:6). We are invited to do the same. Come with all the doubt, hurt, questions, all the vulnerable and wounded pieces – bring it all to the tomb.

He is Risen

Each synoptic Gospel writer includes a conversation where angels say to Mary, I know who you are looking for, Jesus who was crucified (Mt 28:5, Mk 16:8, Lk 24:5), and John records Jesus asking Mary directly, “Who is it you are looking for?” (Jn 20:15). Then, each Gospel writer emphatically answers the question/statement the same way.

He is not here; he has risen, just as he said (Mt 28.:6, Mk 16:6, Lk 24:6-7). And in the Gospel of John, Mary personally encounters the resurrected Christ.

Jesus conquered death. Just like he said he would. His Word is trustworthy and true. Put your hope in this.

Come and See

After declaring Jesus was risen, Mary was invited to come, enter the tomb and witness it for herself. Peter, who rushed to the tomb upon hearing it was empty, also entered and saw the strips of linen lying where a body should have been. John stepped in and saw the folded head cloth, laying apart from the other linens. All, witnesses to the reality of God’s resurrection power.

Of the entire first Easter morning encounter, this is the most exciting part to me!  The stone wasn’t moved so Jesus could get out – it was moved so Mary, with all of her fears and doubts, could come in and see he wasn’t there. It was moved so Peter and John, with their guilt, shame, and doubts, could come and see he wasn’t there. It was moved so you and I can come with whatever might be holding us in Saturday living and see that Jesus isn’t there. He is risen.

Ya’ll, let’s not miss this. Everything changes when we witness the resurrection power of God.

Peter was changed from a fisherman to a leader of the new Christian movement. Because of the prominence of Mary in all four gospel accounts of the resurrection, scholars believe she became a woman of position and influence. Saul, the persecutor of Christians, became Paul, the foremost evangelist to the Gentiles. Paul’s encounter with the resurrected Christ prompted him to pray that the believers in Ephesus would come to know “his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead” (Eph 1:19-20a).

How will God’s resurrection power change you?

Through the Holy Spirit, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in each believer. Coming to the tomb and finding it empty is not a once-a-year thing. The invitation is to come to the tomb every single time we come up against something in our lives that is still Saturday living and witness anew the resurrection power of God. We have everything we need to stop living in the defeat of Saturday and start living in the power of the resurrection. Starting today. Right now.

Don’t be afraid, go to the tomb anyway and bring it all with you. Come and see for yourself. He is not there. He is risen.

Don’t let Easter be ancient history. Let it be your daily reality.

How have you experienced resurrection power?