That One Sabbath Day

I woke up early this morning. The sun was barely peeking up over the horizon.

I stood in my kitchen and seemed to be taken back to another place and time. As I prayed I thanked Jesus that I could pray to Him.

I can only imagine how the disciples must have felt after the crucifixion.

Mary, His mother and Mary Magdalene come to my mind. If sleep came for them it was from pure exhaustion and shock. Seeing Jesus, the Son of God, killed in such a horrible suffering.

They must have felt that all hope was lost. Their hope was dead. They were probably so confused and afraid; they couldn't remember all He had said.

The Sabbath--The law had them so constricted to what they could and could not do. The Soldiers must have been watching them. They must have been afraid. What did they do that day? Worship?

Worship Who and why? The Lord and Savior the Messiah sent by God had been killed by the very people that were at the temple. I wonder if anyone went to the temple on that Sabbath.

Oh how confused they must have been. It must have been a terribly long dreadful despairing day.

I would venture to guess that Mary Magdalene did not rest. She loved Him so much. He had forgiven her for so much, she followed wherever He went.

Her eyes were probably swollen from the tears. She was exhausted, in shock, and really did not know what to do. All she could think about was getting back to Him. Maybe she spent some time preparing the spices as tradition in that day.

"Oh what difference did it all make now?" She must have thought. "They killed Him, He is gone."

I can imagine that she and the others tried to remember every thing He had taught them. But through the exhaustion and grief they were numb.

That day, that one Sabbath day, Jesus was gone. And they were trying to make sense of it all.

The Bible doesn't tell us much about what they did that day. Only that they were asked to leave the tomb because it was the Sabbath. The stone was rolled in front of the opening and the tomb was heavily guarded. Their Lord was inside.

Matthew 27:57-66, 28:1-4

Late in the afternoon a wealthy man from Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus, arrived. His name was Joseph. He went to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. Pilate granted his request. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in clean linens, put it in his own tomb, a new tomb only recently cut into the rock, and rolled a large stone across the entrance. Then he went off. But Mary Magdalene and the other Mary stayed, sitting in plain view of the tomb.

After sundown, the high priests and Pharisees arranged a meeting with Pilate. They said, "Sir, we just remembered that that liar announced while he was still alive, 'After three days I will be raised.' We've got to get that tomb sealed until the third day. There's a good chance his disciples will come and steal the corpse and then go around saying, 'He's risen from the dead.' Then we'll be worse off than before, the final deceit surpassing the first."

Pilate told them, "You will have a guard. Go ahead and secure it the best you can." So they went out and secured the tomb, sealing the stone and posting guards.

After the Sabbath, as the first light of the new week dawned, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to keep vigil at the tomb.

So, according to Scripture we do not know what they did that day. We can only imagine.