Waiting on Jesus - Easter Vigil

                The venerable Tom Petty once whined, “The waiting is the hardest part.”  Holy Saturday isn't Good Friday, but it's not yet Easter Sunday.  So what do we do while we wait?  The answer is the Easter Vigil.  Holy Saturday is awkward in one sense as we wait for the celebration of Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday.  However, in another way, the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday provides the means by which we wait.  Philip Pfatteicher writes, “The ancient vigil, a watching prayer, was a preparation preceding feasts and consisted of readings and silence and prayer.  But the most ancient of all, most dramatic and most intense is what Augustine called ‘the mother of all vigils,’ the passage of night from Holy Saturday to Easter Day.  It takes its participants from death to life, from defeat to hope.”  So on this Holy Saturday, we wait in eager expectation, like parents anxiously awaiting the birth of a child.  We gather in quiet, reflective prayer and wait for the announcement of Christ’s resurrection.

                It would seem that the disciples would have waited in such a vigil for Christ’s resurrection after He had spoken of it so plainly.  However, it was only the women who went to the tomb early the next morning and even they were not expecting to find an empty tomb.  We have the blessed perspective of the evangelists’ witness to the angels’ words.  So we know better!  We know that death held no mastery over Him.  So we wait in vigil as Christ passes over from death to life.

                The Easter Vigil is a rich and deeply meaningful service on many levels.  As the saints of old would wait in the darkness, we, too, kindle a new fire as the Service of Light begins the service.  The congregation gathers around the new fire and marches into a darkened sanctuary.  As the Service of Light begins like in Evening Prayer, the Exsultet is the Easter proclamation that is sung this night reminding the congregation that this is no ordinary vigil.  Pfatteicher writes, “In Evening Prayer, the candle is a sign, a dramatic portrayal that ‘Jesus Christ is the light of the world.’  In the Easter Vigil, however, the paschal candle is treated as a still more potent symbol, almost indistinguishable from what it represents, Jesus Christ.  It is not that Christians have in their regression become fire worshipers, but that the candle and its flame show to those with eyes to see how all things point to Christ and proclaim his glory.” 

                The second part of the Vigil, the Service of Readings, is a recounting of God’s gracious acts of redemption and rescue from the Old Testament.  The accounts of the Sacrifice of Isaac, Noah and the Ark, the Crossing of the Red Sea, the Valley of Dry Bones, Jonah and the Great Fish, Daniel and the Lions’ Den, and the Three Men in the Fiery Furnace are all familiar accounts that remind the assembly of God’s mighty deeds of old and build the anticipation for God’s ultimate saving act in the resurrection.

                The Service of Holy Baptism connects God’s ancient acts of rescue with His present day deliverance in the baptismal waters. The Easter Vigil was historically the service where catechumens were baptized and welcomed into the flock.  Whether there is a baptism or not, the assembly always remembers the new identity that God gives through baptism.

                The Vigil culminates with the announcement of Christ’s resurrection and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.  Here those who have prayerfully waited can celebrate that no darkness could overcome the true Light.  The saints celebrate Christ’s resurrection as they receive His testament, His body and blood under the bread and wine, for the forgiveness of all their sins. 

                The Easter Vigil is the bridge from Good Friday to Easter Sunday.  We celebrate Christ’s passing over from death to life.  Once more from Pfatteicher, “In the grand and powerful celebration of the Easter Vigil, we have the essence of Christianity set before us, as on that most holy night we pass with Israel and with Christ from death to life.  The ancient celebration joins Good Friday and Holy Saturday into one action.  The passion, death and resurrection of Christ are all here.  So is our dying and rising in Holy Baptism and its yearly and daily renewal.  The Great Vigil of Easter is the model for everything we do in worship.  It is, to put it quite simply, the service.  It is a concentration in one service of what Christian worship does throughout the year.” 

                On this Holy Saturday, we are thankful that we have the blessed perspective of knowing that Christ has indeed risen from the dead.  Our watching and waiting in vigil is not in vain.  May God grant us patience as we wait to celebrate His birth and as we wait to celebrate the final Easter. 

                Collect for Holy Saturday – O God, creator of heaven and earth, grant that as the crucified body of Your dear Son, was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with Him the coming of the third day, and rise with Him to newness of life, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.