Holy Saturday provides the occasion to reflect on the strange line from the creed: “He descended into hell.” The traditional explanation is that since the sin of Adam the gates of heaven were closed. All those who deserved to enter heaven had to wait for the triumph of Christ over sin and death to re-open the pearly gates. Christ at his death met all his ancestors in the faith and led them into heaven. The problem with the tradition is that there is no time on the other side of death. Adam and Eve and Abraham and Deborah and David were not sitting on the bench watching the clock. There is no clock outside of the earthly plain. Jesus is the univeral savior, that is, all are saved through him even those who preceded him in this life. “The descent into hell” is a symbolic way of declaring that Jesus saves all. And, that should give us confidence that Jesus can find a way to save even those who aren’t explicitly believers. Our limited notion of how God operates needs to expand to include the wideness of God’s mercy.
APRIL42026
By Church Staff
