LENT 2020: Day 40: Holy Saturday

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• Saturday, April 11, 2020: Holy Saturday
  Job 14.1-14; Psalm 31.1-4, 15-16; 1 Peter 4.1-8; Matthew 27.57-66

     For a tree has hope:
          though cut down, it can still be removed,
              and its shoots will not cease.
    Though its root grows old in the ground
          and its stock die in the dust,
    from the scent of water it flowers,
          and puts forth branches like a sapling.

Yesterday was Good Friday. And if you really believe that Jesus is divine, that means God is dead. 

But Job reminds us that a tree has hope, even if it’s cut down. 

And, almost defiantly, Job announces that he will hold out hope until his dying day:

     If a man dies will he live?
          All my hard service days I shall hope
              until my vanishing comes.

May we stand with Job, defiant and hopeful, proclaiming the words of the Psalmist:

     In you, O LORD, I shelter.
          Let me never be shamed.
              In your bounty, O free me.
    Incline your ear to me.
          Quick, save me.
    Be my stronghold of rock,
          a fort-house to rescue me.
    For you are my crag and my bastion,
          and for your name’s sake guide me and lead me.

...and to dust you shall return.