Saturday of Passion Week was a time of preparation. Almost everything that happened around the crucifixion and resurrection had to take place around the observance of the Sabbath. Though Mark did not record anything associated with the Sabbath or Saturday, many things must have been happening behind the scenes.

Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea must have been moving quickly to ask for the body of Jesus and to prepare a place for His burial. We should not take the burial of Jesus for granted. Without the work of Joseph, we don’t know what would have happened to the body of our Lord. Warren Wiersbe speculates that Joseph picked the tomb especially for Jesus since a man of Joseph’s means would never have used a tomb so close to the place of executions for his own burial. “We must not think that these two men suddenly decided to bury Jesus, because what they did demanded much preparation” (Warren Wiersbe, Be Diligent, 182). Nicodemus used a large amount of spices for the burial, not something to buy quickly when shops would have been closed for Passover.

The women also, after the Sabbath ended (Saturday at 6 PM), had to make preparation for caring for the body. Remember, their preparation and questions were because they did not expect Jesus to be alive.

Finally, they must have spent time in grief and with God on that Saturday.

Saturday was a day of sorrow but Sunday was a day beyond compare, the most significant day in human history.

We should prepare as well. Let us spend time meditating on God’s unique work in our lives. Let us search the Scriptures to see how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament. Let us pray so we are prepared spiritually to celebrate our Lord’s glorious resurrection.

Today, I will have two posts. Please come back to waylonbailey.com during the day to view the second post.

Each day this week we will look at the what Jesus did during His last week of earthly ministry. Please join us each day as we discuss the events of holy week and their meaning for us. You may find the previous posts at www.waylonbailey.com on pages 1 and 2 of the website.

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