Most of us are familiar with the rhythm of Holy Week. Starting with the triumphal entry of Palm Sunday, continuing to the intimacy of the Lord’s Supper and the agony of Good Friday, and concluding with the triumph of Easter morning, we know the pattern of this week well. But amid all our services and reflections, we often forget Saturday, the day in between Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. Indeed, in my experience, we give it next to no thought whatsoever, and yet I think it is an important day in its own right. Yes, we can imagine, even if insufficiently, the horror Jesus’ disciples experienced as they witnessed the torture...

Scott Cairns, reflecting on Holy Saturday in light of his adopted Eastern Orthodox tradition, describes Jesus’ descent into hell to rescue Adam and Eve and all those who had died before his arrival. Many of us know the line “he descended into hell” from the Apostles’ Creed. Interestingly, that line is not found in Scripture, nor was it in the earliest versions of the Creed (“he descended to the dead” is in the earliest texts), but even by the time of Augustine (who himself had a hard time explaining it) the “harrowing of hell” was an established part of the tradition. I’ll confess that...