Mark 16:1-8 Holy Saturday - Gospel for the Easter Vigil

The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb (full canvas and detail), Painted by Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543), Painted between 1520 and 1522, Oil and tempera on limewood, © Kunstmuseum Basel

Gospel Reading

When the sabbath was over, Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices with which to go and anoint him. And very early in the morning on the first day of the week they went to the tomb, just as the sun was rising. They had been saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’ But when they looked they could see that the stone – which was very big – had already been rolled back. On entering the tomb they saw a young man in a white robe seated on the right-hand side, and they were struck with amazement. But he said to them, ‘There is no need for alarm. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: he has risen, he is not here. See, here is the place where they laid him. But you must go and tell his disciples and Peter, “He is going before you to Galilee; it is there you will see him, just as he told you.”’

Reflection on the painting

In the heart of Flanders, as in many parts of the world observing the solemnity of Holy Week, Holy Saturday is known as 'Stille Zaterdag'—Silent Saturday. This nomenclature, rich in its simplicity, profoundly conveys the essence of today: a day of silence. Silent Saturday serves as a poignant interlude between the profound sorrow of Good Friday, marking the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and the exuberant joy of Easter Sunday, celebrating his resurrection. This silence is not merely the absence of sound. It is a deeply contemplative space, a sacred pause that invites reflection, waiting, and anticipation. It mirrors the silence of the tomb, where the body of Christ lay after his crucifixion, and the world seems to hold its breath in anticipation of the fulfillment of his promise of resurrection. Today is the day between the horrendous death of Christ and the raising of his body The day between the struggle and the solution The day between despair and hope The day between the question and the answer The day between death and life The day between the shouts of torture and the shouts of joy. … today we do what Jesus did: lie still, stay silent, and trust in God… Tonight all will change! Our painting by Hans Holbein the Younger depicts the dead Christ in the tomb. It is a narrow, life-sized painting (30.5 cm x 200 cm). I also accompany the illustration with a detail of the work. Christ's face, hands and feet, as well as the wounds in his torso, are depicted as realistic dead flesh in the early stages of putrefaction, the process of decay in a body. His eyes and mouth are left open. It is a hard painting to look at. Discussing the artist's use of unflinching realism, art historian Oscar Bätschmann noted that Christ's raised and extended middle finger appears to "reach towards the beholder", and makes the point there is only one God. One God, one faith, one way towards Christ. The Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky was captivated by the work. In 1867, his wife had to drag him away from the panel. He spent hours in front of it. Dostoevsky saw in Holbein an impulse similar to one of his own main literary preoccupations: the pious desire to confront Christian faith with everything that negated it, in this case the laws of nature and the stark reality of death. In his 1869 novel The Idiot, the character Prince Myshkin, having viewed a copy of the painting in the home of Rogozhin, declares that it has the power to make the viewer lose his faith.

by Father Patrick van der Vorst