We showed up at our small country cemetery just after daylight – my dad, me, and perhaps a brother. We had come to dig a six-foot-deep grave. Another beloved neighbour had passed.
We worked hard, carefully shaping vertical walls to the rectangular hole with pick and shovel. Today, a brother’s mini-excavator makes this work much easier. Yet with the same care the site is made ready for the family’s arrival.
Cemetery burial affirms a reality – a loved one has died. Each grave-stone speaks of a history, a death, and a burial remembered.
Last weekend Christians remembered historical documents about Jesus:
“Christ DIED for our sins according to the Scriptures…He was BURIED…He was RAISED on the third day according to the Scriptures…and He APPEARED.”
“According to the Scriptures” indicates fulfilling exactly what God’s prophets had prophesied centuries before. “He WAS buried” affirms the witnesses (Matthew 27, John 19) knew He was DEAD:
- His enemies, and followers alike observed as He “breathed His last”
- at the cross the Roman centurion and guards knew He was dead
- Pontious Pilate was convinced He had died
- Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus wrapped Him for burial
- His body was placed in a tomb – sealed and guarded by soldiers
- ladies came to the tomb Sunday morning knowing He had died
That “He WAS buried” is past tense. He died on Friday, but Sunday came; things had changed. Jesus had risen from death, burial, and the grave – as He promised. He lives!
Knowing our struggle to believe this, Jesus APPEARED over a period of forty days, “He SHOWED Himself …and gave many convincing proves that He WAS alive.” (Acts 1) The Scriptures document enough ‘living proof’ for us to believe Jesus.
The significance of this historical event is:
- by overcoming death and the burial Jesus proved He is God, i.e. the “LORD Jesus Christ”
- Jesus’ ‘show and tell’ brings us HOPE in that He alone overcame death, and burial FOR US.
- That you “may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” (John 20)
I believe Jesus, therefore I have trusted Him as my Saviour; He is our only hope of overcoming death and burial. My sins are forgiven; the gift of eternal life has been granted to me.
Jesus showed compassion in coming along side grieving families. He is “the Resurrection and the Life”; He overcame everything that saddens us in our loss – death, burial, and the grave!
How encouraging His words, “He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do YOU believe this?” – He just got personal: me/you and Him.
Yes, “He WAS buried”, but not any more!”
“Are you with me?”
Pastor Bill Terris