As John Ortberg begins Chapter 14 (“Saturday”) of Who is This Man?, he theorizes that there has been only one day in the last 2000+ years when no one believed Jesus was alive- the Saturday following Good Friday. The author poignantly describes that day:
“This is Saturday. The day after this but the day before that. The day after a prayer gets prayed but there is no answer on the way. The day after a soul gets crushed way down but there’s no promise of getting off the mat.”
A little later in the chapter, Pastor Ortberg adds that everybody knows Saturday:
“Saturday is the day your dream died. You wake up and you’re still alive. You have to go on but you don’t know how. Worse, you don’t know why.”
The Biblical account of Jesus’ death and resurrections is a “third-day story”. All such stories share a common structure: first day- trouble; third day- deliverance; second day- continuation of day one.
All third-day stories also share a common problem: we don’t know it’s a third-day story until the third day! Rob Bell refers to this as living “between the trees” (the Trees of Life in Genesis and Revelation). The silence of Saturday is a time to cry out to God, wait, and continue to seek God even when He seems far away.
Today’s question: Our ministry downsizing or vocation loss is a third-day story as well. What are ways you’ve found to keep hope alive during your time of transition? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Silence happens”
