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Opening Prayer
Spirit of God, there is much patience required of us in this life, and we become easily weak with the waiting. Grant us the patience to live through the dry times, the seasons of hibernation, and the tenures of bland ordinariness, that we might live into all you are preparing us to enjoy and share with others. Amen.
Scripture: John 18.31-42 (ESV)
31Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 32So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. 35He who saw it has borne witness--his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth--that you also may believe. 36For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken." 37And again another Scripture says, "They will look on him whom they have pierced."
38After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. 39Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. 40So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. 41Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
Poem
I did continue the way
For the seed was planted in faith, as much as soil, and
The ground upon which I did tread on
Was the same embracing in itself the offering entrusted to it.
The soil did not turn away nor abandon my prayer,
Such the earth was formed with His intent, and
I, in time, rejoiced to see the shoot rise and flowers adorn the air
And from before my feet, long down the road,
Where I had journeyed on, trustingly.
—Brian K. Wilcox
Comments
Despair is antithetical to Christian faith. The tomb, a house of death, becomes a beacon of resurrection. We, however, accept the tomb prior to resurrection. The sting of the tomb is much lessened through this graceful and humble giving of our selves into the care of God. God is as much present in suffering as after suffering. Indeed, in suffering we often feel the Presence more.
Through the acceptance of crucifixion, we are readied for resurrection. Without death, there is no life. In God, death is life, life is death. But we do not know these things quickly. Few learn them in a hurried culture. We must live into them, patiently.
If we hold promises in the darkness of the sepulcher, if we trust, we remain untouched by despair, though touched deeply by pain, others’ pain and our pain. And we shall be hopeful persons, not because we are not touched by death, but because death cannot touch life. Life holds death within itself, transforming it.
We rejoice! We are optimistic. We are not gladdened because death does not touch us, but because God participates in our death, everyone’s death.
This participation opens to life. That is for Easter, not this dark tomb tenure of Saturday. Indeed, we cannot know Easter without living through the day of waiting. Living through this day, we learn that our many deaths, through the short life here, are preludes preparing us for what we could not receive without preparation.
God never withholds any good, rather, we often are not ready to receive the good. Therefore, the tomb is a place of grace.
Indeed, this life itself is preparation for Heaven. We left Home to return. But you miss the deep meaning here if “we” is read as the personality. No, I speak of the spirit.
This earth journey is a tomb pilgrimage, one leading back to Paradise, but with our having learned lessons we would not have learned without the challenging and blissful passage to Resurrection. We return to God, but we return new.
Suggested Psalm Readings: Psalm 42-43; Psalm 73
Spiritual Exercise
Reflect on blessings you have lived into through trusting and patience. Give God thanks for these blessings.
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