Text: Luke 23:50-56
Many church traditions refer to this day as Holy Saturday, or some similar title, to emphasize the importance of the day between Christ’s crucifixion and His resurrection, when Jesus was in the tomb. The Gospels say very little about what happened on that day, which was the Jewish Sabbath.
Luke 23:56 mentions that some of the women of Jesus’ disciples rested on the Sabbath, with the expectation that they would anoint His body when Sabbath was ended. We learn from John 20:19 that the disciples were staying behind locked doors because they feared the Jews, meaning the Jewish religious authorities would have probably arrested them. But it is important to note that Jesus was dead and buried. Many enemies of Christ will say that Jesus swooned or was comatose. But the disciples knew the difference between death and coma.
Jesus Christ humbly submitted Himself to death in order to pay the sin penalty of His people. If He did not pay the punishment, then we would pay it ourselves. God the Son was able to pay an eternal debt by His death because He is an infinite person. But we are finite, and if we pay our penalties, it will mean eternity apart from God. If we must pay, then the debt will be forever, and never be completed, never. If you trust Jesus to be your Sin-Bearer and Penalty-Payer, then you are free from that debt – now and forever! How should you respond to that? You must live humbly before Him in love and with grateful obedience.
Meditate on verse 53. What are you learning from this verse?
Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, thank You for the grace, that Your Son, Jesus Christ, should die for me to gain eternal life?