Holy Saturday Reflection by The Rev. Hartshorn Murphy (Editor's Note: As noted in the last edition of the Ebb and Flow, we chose this year to not host the Great Vigil of Easter on Holy Saturday (which becomes the First Mass of Easter) but rather to "celebrate" the women who − unlike the male disciples − kept a vigil at the Tomb, being willing to enter into the terror and brokenness of that day and also to acknowledge the tradition of Christ's "Hallowing of Hell", when Christ's spirit descended into the underworld on that Saturday to rescue the Jewish souls trapped there. This is the reflection shared that night as a part of the healing service and is reproduced here by request.) In the Creation story, God scoops up a mound of moist earth and forms it into humankind but it had no life until God breathed his own breath into it. At that moment of inspiration, a part of the divine life enters into humanity and the human receives a soul. When a human dies, at the time of expiration, that breath or spirit leaves the body and the body becomes an empty vessel. For the ancient Jews (and indeed all peoples), the question was: where does the essence of what was this person go? The cosmology was simple and observable. Above is the firmament − the dome of heaven − and beyond was the realm of celestial light. We can see that light at night through small holes in the firmament we call stars. Each star had an angel posted there at the portal to guard it against human encroachment − remember the Tower of Babel story (Genesis 11) − but also to prevent heavenly beings from trespassing on the earth without God's authorization. The earth is a flat disc floating on the sea and under the earth is the underworld, which the Jews called "Sheol." (Hebrew: "to be hollow.") When we die, our souls go underground to the place of shadows. It is a place of semi-consciousness − at best − but more often, the souls are simply said to be unconsciously "sleeping." There they will rest until the Day of Judgment. We read in the Lazarus story (John 11): Jesus says: "Our friend Lazarus is resting, I am going to wake him." The disciples said to him "Lord, if he is able to rest he is sure to get better." The phrase Jesus used referred to the death of Lazarus, but they thought that by "rest" he meant "sleep;" so Jesus put it plainly "Lazarus is dead." Well, Lazarus had been dead for four days. The Jews believed that the soul hung around the body for three days hoping to be reunited with it but after three days, death is final. Martha, Lazarus' sister, berates Jesus for being late in arriving to help her brother and Jesus says: "Your brother will rise again." Martha said, "I know that he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day." The last day. When the old order passes away and the Kingdom of God comes fully upon the earth, then the souls will be set free from Sheol and the bodies will be reconstituted and they will resume their lives in a New Israel. Think of the story in Ezekiel of the "Valley of Dry Bones." (Ezekiel 37:1-14) Now, it should be mentioned that resurrection was only for Jews, not for the Gentiles. Departed Gentiles are destined to remain in Hades forever. Gentiles living at the End would, according to the liberal view, convert to Judaism and according to the more conservative view, become slaves to Jews for all time. The more conservative view held that all Jews, because they are Jews, would enter into the Kingdom of God as citizens of that Kingdom. The more liberal (read: Pharisees including Jesus) view held that some Jews would be welcome in (the martyrs, the righteous who kept the law) and some would not (sinners). In any case, the new world order would be decidedly Jewish. The Christian Church − coming out of Jewish tradition − adopted a similar understanding of what happens after we die except that overtime, Sheol became renamed as Hell and rather than a place of unconsciousness, it became a place of eternal pain and torture while the righteous are ushered into a place of refreshment and joy. In the last century, the harsh description of hell has moderated a bit in the mainline churches. If heaven means being close to God and seeing God face to face; then hell is to be apart from God, in a place in which God has turned his face from us. C.S. Lewis even suggested that when souls in hell repented, God would redeem them and save them and bring them unto himself. (see: The Great Divorce.) But in Jewish and in Christian theology, the souls of the dead were considered to be sleeping until the Day of the (General) Resurrection − for Christians, the Day of Jesus' Second Coming. And so, one answer to the question: "where is my mother's or father's soul, where are they now?" would be to say that they are asleep in the Lord. But that's only one answer. Many Christians believe that at the time of our death, we are each judged individually and immediately: into God's presence or into the place of God's absence. Again, the Lazarus story changes everything. In response to Martha's words: "I know that he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day." Jesus says: "I am the resurrection. If anyone believe in me, even though he dies, he will live and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." And so, after three days, where was Lazarus? He- at least the he of him − is in the Underworld and Jesus called him forth from there that he might be reunited with his earthly body. On Holy Saturday − as some women may have been keeping vigil-watch at the Tomb − where was Jesus' spirit? We answer that in the context of an acknowledgement of the millions of Jews who lived before the Messiah's coming, whose souls are trapped in Sheol and who never had the opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel. Some of them were martyrs for the true God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ: what of their souls? In order to maintain a consistent belief in the justice and integrity of God, what provision should be made for their fate; those who rest asleep in Hades? Early Christian disciples believed that on Holy Saturday, Jesus' spirit descended into the Underworld and preached the Good News to those held captive there and freed them − especially the martyrs −to enter into God's presence in the celestial city. There is some hint of this tradition in Matthew 27:52-53. More directly, we read in I Peter: "Christ also died for our sins once and for all. He, the just, suffered for the unjust, to bring us to God. In the body he was put to death, in the spirit he was brought to life. And in the spirit he went and made his proclamation to the imprisoned spirits." (I Peter 3:18-19) Later, some Christian theologians will say that Jesus baptized the souls held captive in the Underworld to set them free since the Church began to teach that only the baptized could enter Paradise. Where are the souls of our dear ones? Where are they now? Some say that they sleep awaiting the Lord's Second Coming; while others say that they have gone on to their encounter with the Holy. But perhaps the most important observation comes from St. Paul. In his letter to the Romans, Paul writes: "I am convinced that neither death, nor life … nor anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39) And so in the end, while admitting that all is speculation and that in death, we enter into the greatest human mystery, in the end our bedrock is this: that the breath which came from God will ultimately return to God. In the burial office, we say it directly and unambiguously: "For your faithful people, O Lord, life is changed not ended and when our mortal body lies in death, there is prepared for us a dwelling place eternal in the heavens." (BCP pg. 382) Thanks be to God, who through the death and resurrection of his son Jesus the Christ has given us the gift of life eternal. Amen. Copyright © 2008 St. Augustine by-the-Sea
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