Holy Saturday

"For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease. Though its roots grow in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant." The cycle of nature is birth - death - and re-birth. Philosophically, this was the observation of nature in Job's day, while it was not real in the experience of men and women. In the midst of death we still find hope. How do we express that hope in our lives?

"For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does." What do you understand by this?

The Passover is the highlight of the religious commemoration for the Jew The Passover re-presents the deliverance of the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt. The joy of the event was lost on Joseph and Nicodemus on this occasion. Much as it is for us when someone close to us dies during a holy season. Try to grasp the poignancy of the event. Describe how you feel.