God’s investment in humanity is so great that even He did not circumvent the finality of death.
Read more: Silence! 2-night Stay in Hotel DeathJoseph took the body and wrapped it up in a fresh linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb, cut out of the solid rock. He rolled a large stone across the entrance to the tomb, and left.
(Matthew 27:59-60 FBV)
Religion finds discomfort in the inevitability and finality of death. Yes, and with good reason too! Who wants to die? Jesus could have risen on Friday evening – he could even have not died at all. Even crucifixion did not cap his reservoir of power. Yet Jesus chose no fancy mausoleum or some other spectacular sign to mark his resting place. No, he just lay in a cold dark tomb with a stone rolled across the entrance. He was buried just like any ordinary person.
It is a travesty – the Almighty Creator in a pedestrian tomb! Surely, a public relations expert (they are so underrated) would have recommended something that could capture more attention.
Oh, but Jesus spent all of Sabbath (and half a day after) lying in the finality of death. We can be sure that the Ressurection is no fluke. We can face the finality of death knowing – in between our whimpers and funeral songs – that Jesus turned the finality of death into a coma/comma. Death is part of reality. Jesus did not try to deny it or diminish its reality, he just fixed an addendum to death’s inevitable finality – “for now”. So we should cry because the pain of loss is real but our tears cannot burn our hope away. one day, death will die. Here’s hoping it’s written its will.
Photo by Sharon Lawson on Unsplash
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