In the season of remembering what Jesus did on the Cross, Holy Saturday is the one I know the least.
In the Southern Baptist church that I grew up in, the special days of these season we marked were Palm Sunday which recalls Jesus entry in to Jerusalem. Good Friday, the day of Crucifixion. And Easter Sunday, the day of Resurrection.
In more liturgical churches, there is also Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of Lent. The ashes marked on the forehead in the shape of a cross is a sign of repentance which is an essential element of preparing the believer in remembering the events of holy week.
There is also Maundy Thursday which recalls the last day before the Crucifixion with emphasis on the foot washing of the disciples, the Last Supper, the prayers at the Garden of Gethsemane and the betrayal by Judas.
And lastly, there is Holy Saturday where in the more liturgical churches the services held are very sparse. This is in line with what the disciples would have felt on that day after the death of Jesus but prior to the Resurrection.
And so, I find myself drawn back to the tale of Job.
In a sense, we live in Holy Saturday. The work of Jesus, the Christ has been done on the Cross, yet we await His return in full glory. We live with trust in the significance of the Cross and anticipation that His Return will release us from the sorrows of this life.
And so onto Job 33.
Elihu had been silent until Job 32. He would speak from Job 32-37.
Elihu is bold in his addressing Job directly:
But now, Job, listen to my words;
pay attention to everything I say.
I am about to open my mouth;
my words are on the tip of my tongue.
My words come from an upright heart;
my lips sincerely speak what I know.
The Spirit of God has made me;
the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
Answer me then, if you can;
stand up and argue your case before me.
But I do appreciate Elihu's humility in the next few lines:
I am the same as you in God's sight;
I too am a piece of clay.
No fear of me should alarm you,
nor should my hand be heavy on you.
Nonetheless, Elihu is concerned about some of the things Job had said in his monologues.
But you have said in my hearing—
I heard the very words—
I am pure, I have done no wrong;
I am clean and free from sin.
Yet God has found fault with me;
he considers me his enemy.
He fastens my feet in shackles;
he keeps close watch on all my paths.
But I tell you, in this you are not right,
for God is greater than any mortal.
Thanks to the study notes in Zondervan's NIV Study Bible, I'm reminded that Job did not actually claim to be sinless (see Job 7:21 and 13:26) but rather that as far as he knows he has acknowledged all his sins and that he has avoided egregious sins.
Why do you complain to him
that he responds to no one's words?
For God does speak—now one way, now another—
though no one perceives it.
In a dream, in a vision of the night,
when deep sleep falls on people
as they slumber in their beds,
he may speak in their ears
and terrify them with warnings,
to turn them from wrongdoing
and keep them from pride,
to preserve them from the pit,
their lives from perishing by the sword.
Elihu tries to counter Job's assertion that God is silent.
image source:
http://www.ncbusinesslitigationreport.com/danger%20sign.jpg
Indeed, one ongoing question for those who believe in God is how does God "speak" to me?
Elihu here seems to be arguing that God speaks to us in the voice of the conscience to keep us away from wrongdoing, pride, the pit and perishing by the sword.
Elihu continued on this theme:
Or they may be chastened on a bed of pain
with constant distress in their bones,
so that their bodies find food repulsive
and their souls loathe the choicest meal.
Their flesh wastes away to nothing,
and their bones, once hidden, now stick out.
They draw near to the pit,
and their lives to the messengers of death.
And thus, pain is another "messenger" of God to steer us onto the correct path.
Reminds me of a C.S. Lewis quote ...
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."
Elihu then addressed the possibility of rescue apart from "self rescue."
Yet if there is an angel at their side,
a messenger, one out of a thousand,
sent to tell them how to be upright,
and he is gracious to them and says to God,
'Spare them from going down to the pit;
I have found a ransom for them—
let their flesh be renewed like a child's;
let them be restored as in the days of their youth'—
then they can pray to God and find favor with him,
they will see God's face and shout for joy;
he will restore them to full well-being.
And they will go to others and say,
'We have sinned, we have perverted what is right,
but we did not get what we deserved.
God has delivered us from going down to the pit,
and we shall live to enjoy the light of life.'
"God does all these things to people—
twice, even three times—
to turn them back from the pit,
that the light of life may shine on them.
"Pay attention, Job, and listen to me;
be silent, and I will speak.
If you have anything to say, answer me;
speak up, for I want to vindicate you.
But if not, then listen to me;
be silent, and I will teach you wisdom."
The great "R" words of the Bible: rescue, ransom, renewal, restoration, reconciliation.
image source:
http://www.outtatown.com/photos/06site2/wp-content/photos/the_cross.jpg
And so Elihu is telling Job that rescue, ransom, renewal, restoration, reconciliation is all possible.
For us today, on this Holy Saturday, we know that it has been done at the Cross. But we still suffer. We await the completion of the rescue, ransom, renewal, restoration, reconciliation.
The prayer for Holy Saturday from the Book of Common Prayer:
O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the
crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and
rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the
coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of
life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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