Today’s household object is the bed and our Bible passage is Matthew 27:62-66.
Most of us nowadays have a bed on which we can sleep. This has not historically always been the case, and even now, on camping holidays, we do not have a comfortable bed but a mat and sleeping bag on which to sleep. Sleep is utterly necessary to us however, wherever we sleep. If we are deprived of sleep, we become confused, grumpy, forgetful and even can hallucinate; sleep deprivation is a form of torture.
Sleep, in the Bible, is often likened to death. At night when we sleep, we lay down our consciousness and activity and rest, to rise again in the morning, refreshed and revitalised. In the same way, the death of Jesus gave way to resurrection, and our physical death is seen as sleep which will be ended when we are raised to life again as Jesus was. Holy Saturday seems a day of inactivity and death, but the truth is that Jesus has now emptied the bed of death and walked free in the light of redemption, freedom and hope. ‘As we lie down to sleep tonight, may we wake to the renewing light of the Easter dawn.’ (‘At Home In Lent’, P 183)