Where Was Our Lord? Where Are We?
HOLY SATURDAY
AM Psalm 95 & 88 • PM Psalm 27
Job 19:21-27a • Heb. 4:1-16 • Rom. 8:1-11
Two years ago, my Morning Reflection was on the same subject as today, Holy Saturday. At the time, I questioned where Jesus was between his crucifixion and his resurrection, what we call Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The Apostles’ Creed, one of Christianity’s oldest professions of faith, used to state that Jesus descended into hell and opened heaven’s gates for the “just” who had died before the coming of the Messiah. Called “the Harrowing of Hell,” this idea became a major subject of the visual arts, the poetry, and the drama of the Middle Ages, proving irresistible to painters such as Hieronymus Bosch and his school, who portrayed Jesus breaking down the door of hell onto gruesome monsters and broken humans, and to Dante, who, on a more positive note, wrote that the whole universe “trembled with the love” when Jesus broke the lock on the doors of the inferno. An eighth century dramatic work based on this subject has Jesus releasing, among others, Adam and Eve, who have been awaiting redemption through Jesus’ death and resurrection.
There’s no Biblical evidence for this idea of Jesus’ descent into hell. In fact, Jesus’ own words to the Good Thief contradict it: “Today you will be with me in paradise.” For some years now, the words “Jesus descended into hell” have been removed from the creed, and I’m glad. I prefer to think that during that time Jesus was finally able to rest after his labors so that he could burst forth revived and replenished in body and spirit on the third day.
After a year of almost total isolation because of my high-risk health status, when the CDC lifted some rules for fully-vaccinated people last week, I chose carefully my first (non-medical) place to visit: a garden center. It wasn’t easy for me to leave the safety of home, but what an enlivening and energizing experience it was to see those masses of green and growing things. My first words when I got home with my twenty-eight lettuce sets were, “I feel resurrected!”
Jesus has been with us through our personal hells of the past year, and, as we come creeping out of our tombs, Jesus, the Light of the world, is, and will continue to be, there to lead us into our resurrected lives. Just as Jesus’ risen body was transformed so that even his closest followers had trouble recognizing him, may we be changed and replenished in spirit so much that the light of God’s love can shine at least a little more brightly through us in days to come.
Written by Kay DuVal
Kay wishes everyone a Holy Saturday of rest and refreshment and a blessed Easter Sunday of peace and joy.