Holy Week: Saturday

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Close your eyes, and bring your attention to your breath. Inhale deeply, hold for two seconds, now breathe out all the tension, stress, or negativity in your body. One more time. Breathe in deeply, hold, exhale slowly all the way. 

As your breathing returns to normal, gently turn your thoughts and attention toward the last week of Christ’s life. Elder Gong describes the Holy Week this way: “The sacred events between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday are the story of hosanna[, meaning “save now,”] and hallelujah[, meaning “praise ye the Lord Jehovah”]. Hosanna is our plea for God to save. Hallelujah expresses our praise to the Lord for the hope of salvation and exaltation. In hosanna and hallelujah we recognize the living Jesus Christ as the heart of Easter and latter-day restoration.”

Today we will be pondering the Saturday before Easter, when Jesus ministered in the spirit world while his body lay in the tomb.

It is now Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.[1] The chief priests and Pharisees have what they want: Jesus’s body lays in a tomb. But they still are not quite satisfied. They go to Pilate again, saying, “Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.”[2] So they ask Pilate to set guards at the tomb for three days, to make sure that no disciples come “by night, steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead.”[3] Pilate allows it.[4]

Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and others want to attend to Christ’s body with spices and ointments, according to their customs, but it is the Sabbath, so any burial rituals must wait until tomorrow. Imagine how long this day must have felt to those who had just witnessed the brutal execution of their Lord, friend, son, brother, teacher, and leader.

Before Christ left the earth, He told His disciples “I go to prepare a place for you.”[5] We learn from Peter that after Christ died, but before He was resurrected,[6] that Christ visited and preached to the spirits of those who had previously lived on the earth.[7] In 1918, as President Joseph F. Smith is pondering Peter’s words, a vision is opened to him and he gets a glimpse into the spirit world the moment when Christ dies on the cross.[8]

He sees a vast multitude of people who had believed in Christ during their mortality and had died “firm in the hope of a glorious resurrection, through the grace of God the Father and his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.”[9] The spirits are assembled together, excitedly talking amongst themselves and rejoicing, knowing that at any minute, Christ will arrive in the spirit world.[10] This is a moment they have been waiting for!

Suddenly, He appears, “declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful;”[11] “And the saints rejoice[] in their redemption, and bow[] the knee and acknowledge[] the Son of God as their Redeemer and Deliverer from death and the chains of hell. Their countenances [shine], and the radiance from the presence of the Lord [rests] upon them, and they [sing] praises unto his holy name.”[12]

While there, Christ preaches “the everlasting gospel, the doctrine of the resurrection and the redemption of mankind from the fall, and from individual sins on conditions of repentance.”[13]

But there is another category of people in the spirit world: “the ungodly and the unrepentant who had defiled themselves while in the flesh,” “the rebellious who rejected the testimonies and the warnings of the ancient prophets,” and those who had “died in their sins, without a knowledge of the truth.”[14] These spirits live in a place where “darkness reign[s]” and they do not get to see Christ’s face or hear His words or feel His redemption or His peace.[15]

But Christ does not abandon those spirits. He does not have a lot of time before He is going to be resurrected, so “among the righteous, he organize[s] his forces and appoint[s] messengers, clothed with power and authority, and commission[s] them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that [are] in darkness, even to all the spirits of men; and thus [is] the gospel preached to the dead.”[16]

“Thus was it made known that our Redeemer spent his time during his sojourn in the world of spirits, instructing and preparing the faithful spirits of the prophets who had testified of him in the flesh; That they might carry the message of redemption unto all the dead, unto whom he could not go personally, because of their rebellion and transgression, that they through the ministration of his servants might also hear his words.”[17]

Take a few moments to ponder this vision. Christ’s love for every last spirit who has lived or will live on earth is so apparent and so powerful. He never gives up on any spirit. The opportunity to repent is extended again and again and again. On earth. In the spirit world. He wants us to change and to improve and to qualify for the highest level of glory and joy.

Christ’s mission was and is tireless: even His mortal death was not a rest for Him. Although we are counseled to prioritize our lives wisely and not run faster than we have strength,[18] our responsibility to serve the Lord, keep the commandments, pray always, be diligent, share the gospel, love others, and endure to the end is similarly tireless. We are never done. Think about how your relationships and roles have changed over your lifetime—and will continue to change. How can you be wisely but diligently tireless in your efforts like Christ was tireless in His?

When you are ready, take a final deep breath and slowly turn your awareness back to your body. As you open your eyes and return to your surroundings, take a moment to jot down any thoughts, promptings, or questions that came to mind while you were pondering. Continue to ponder the things that have come to your mind and your heart as you prepare for and celebrate the Easter Holiday.

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[1] Matthew 27:62.

[2] Matthew 27:63.

[3] Matthew 27:64.

[4] Matthew 27:65-66.

[5] John 14:2.

[6] D&C 138:27.

[7] 1 Peter 3:19; D&C 138.

[8] D&C 138:11.

[9] D&C 138:14.

[10] D&C 138:15-18.

[11] D&C 138:18.

[12] D&C 138:23-24.

[13] D&C 138:19.

[14] D&C 138:20-21; 32.

[15] D&C 138:20-22, 29.

[16] D&C 138:30.

[17] D&C 138:36-37.

[18] D&C 10:4-5 (“Do not run faster or labor more than you have strength and means provided to enable you to translate; but be diligent unto the end. Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work.”)