Saddest Sabbath

By Hazel Holland

I wrote this poem and did the background chalk "painting" for an Easter pageant that was put on at a Seventh-day Adventist church twenty-eight years ago. The Sabbath morning service was presented from the viewpoint of the disciples who didn't know that Jesus was going to rise from the dead the next day... (Click on the picture to enlarge the poem so it is easier to read or go here.)

Now, twenty-eight years later, I can still remember the awful heaviness I felt that Sabbath morning as I got in touch with the despair and confusion of the disciples at seeing their Master crucified...

How their anguish must have turned to joy as soon as they saw that their Master had risen from the dead!  But it wouldn't be until the Holy Spirit fell upon them at Pentecost that they would begin to grasp the real significance of His death and resurrection, and what He had accomplished for them and everyone who would believe...

Now, twenty-eight years later, I've found that the Sabbath is not about worshiping God on Saturday or Sunday or any other day.  Sabbath is about resting in my risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ 24/7.  I've been released from the shadows and rituals of the old covenant, and I have entered into the freedom and joy I have found in the New.

Because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, my relationship to the law is now all gone.  Because of the finished work of Jesus Christ my old self is now all gone.  Because of the finished work of Jesus Christ my sins are now all gone.  Because of the finished work of Jesus Christ every obstacle preventing me from having closeness with God is now all gone.

What appeared to be a dark shadow cast over the saddest sabbath of all time turned out to be just the beginning of a new order of things in Jesus Christ!