Today is your preparation day, as should be every Saturday, because I just know you spend a lot of time getting ready to enter the Lord’s house for worship every Sunday. You should be shaking your head up and down, in the affirmative.
In times past, every Saturday, the Sunday meal was prepared in advance and the aroma from the food being readied made you hope that the night would really pass quickly. Either you or your parent picked out your clothes, ironed them on a wooden ironing board with that old-time starch that came in box, hung them up neatly, and set out your socks, shoes, and undergarments. You might have skipped a bath on some nights, but not on Saturday!
On the Saturday before Easter, what many call Resurrection Sunday nowadays, extra preparation was made for that day. Children not only wore their Sunday best, but the best that they wore on any other Sunday during the year. “Come as you are” was not en vogue or entirely acceptable, not yet. And get this! More people than usual prepared to attend church, just as was the case on Christmas and Thanksgiving.
Now, here we are in 2024, the day before Resurrection Sunday. As it was a day of preparation for the women who went to a special place to minister to Jesus’ body, but would later be informed, “He is not here. He has risen!” – as it was then, today is a day that you will go to the special place where you can be with the body of Christ, the church. His rising from the dead will be announced by the angel of the church that you attend. And I hope that excites you, energizes your discipleship commitment, and I pray that you will exclaim and explain to your young ones the importance of the day.
Go do your preparation! And after your preparation Saturday, show up on the first day of the week and enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Praise God for sending His Son! Hallelujah and amen! Be blessed!
“It was a preparation day, and a Sabbath was about to begin. Now the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how His body was laid. And then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in gleaming clothing; and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, ‘Why are you seeking the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen.’” (Luke 23:54-24:6a NASB)
Committed to the climb,
Mark L. King