P. Pilgrim
The word cemetery is from the Greek word κοιμητήριον and means sleeping place. It is the place specifically designated as a burial place of men and women who have died. Although it is a place of death at the same time it is a place of great wealth, after meandering through the tombstones reflecting on names, dates, and inscriptions, it gives the person an awareness of mortality both long and short, it can also improve physical health as they realise how well they actually are compared to those in the graves. However, I think one of its greatest riches is it helps people re-prioritize their goals and values, for the graveyard or cemetery is full of names of young or old, rich or poor, men or women all are represented. The grave is not a discerner of people, it takes all ages when their time has arrived.
Last weekend I wrote of the last meal of Christ with his disciple and then his crucifixion on the cross. The barbaric method of the Romans was the most cruel, painful and slow way to kill a person. When Christ died on the cross, the soldiers came and pierced his side, and blood and water came forth as proof that he was really dead. His friends came and asked for his body and took it and laid him in a garden tomb close to where he died. His friends prepared his body with spices of myrrh and aloes, and they wrapped his body in linen clothes and laid him in the tomb. They were heartbroken and distraught, their beloved friend was gone. The religious men of the day remembered some words of Christ which he had spoken before his death, he predicted that he would die but three days later he would rise from the dead. As a result, they sought the Roman governor to seal the tomb with a big stone so that the disciples couldn’t steal away the body and then say he had risen! And so, it was done the tomb entrance was sealed with a large stone and a military watch was set over it day and night.
Yet the story of Easter isn’t over, this is the difference between Christianity and other religions because on the third day Christ rose from the grave. The Christ of Christianity is a living Saviour. It doesn’t have pilgrimages to a tomb because the tomb is empty, Christ is Risen. Early on the first day of the week, Sunday, there was an earthquake and an angel came and moved the stone away to show to all that the tomb was empty. The Roman guards trembled at what they saw and froze, they couldn’t move. When they returned to the city to tell them what had happened, they were paid a large sum of money and persuaded to lie and say that the disciples of Jesus had come and taken away the body. However, when the disciples arrived at the tomb, they were surprised at what had happened. During that day Christ appeared to several of the disciples and at last he appeared to them all in the upper room. Ten of the disciples had gathered together to pray and discuss what had happened that day. Suddenly Christ appeared in the middle of the room and said unto them, ‘Peace be unto you’. He allowed them to touch his body, so that they too could understand that it was really him. They saw the wounds from the nails in his hands and feet, then he ate with them in a final demonstration that it truly was him. From the sadness of the grave comes the victory of the resurrection. What good can come from a grave? The goodness of the resurrection and the promise that is given to all who believe in Christ, the promise that they too will rise from the grave to be with Christ. The gospel of Luke chapter 24.
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