God Is Dead: A Holy Week Meditation for Easter Vigil

Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Between the cross and the resurrection sits silent Saturday. A day too dark for words, a day too important to forget. Frederick Nietzsche famously declared, “God is dead,” and on this day, he’s right. The worst thing has happened: God in Jesus is dead, and we had a hand in killing Him. God did not kill Jesus—it was our violence, rage, and desire to dominate that killed love personified.

Due to our culpability in God’s death, the temptation is to skip past Saturday en route to the empty tomb. But that would be a huge mistake. Here on this holy day, God is fully revealed. For 2,000 years, followers of Jesus have sought to understand God, to know this deity that set the whole universe in motion. And in the cross of Christ, our God is finally unveiled. Was it not Jesus Himself who told us, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father?” 

That’s why we pause today and ponder this question anew: What kind of God does the cross reveal? In his book Following Christ in a Consumer Society, John Kavanaugh asks, “Can this God who is most frequently represented as a defenseless poor baby in a manger and as a defenseless man on a cross be a tyrant?” Of course not. Good Friday and Holy Saturday are God’s big reveal.

If you struggle to love God, to trust God, to believe God is good, then look at God today. See God fully exposed, defenseless and dead, lying cold in the grave. Look at the length to which God will go to save you from yourself. See God in Jesus through the eyes that only Holy Saturday can reveal. As theologian Jurgen Moltmann writes, “When the crucified Jesus is called ‘the image of the invisible God,’ the meaning is that THIS is God, and God is like THIS!” This is our God, this is what God looks like. God looks like Jesus hanging limp on a cross and lying cold on a slab. God is not an angry parent waiting to punish you, but a suffering savior willing to save you. God’s name is Emmanuel, the One who is actually with us in our pain, in our sorrow, and yes, even in our death.