Station #1 of the Resurrection Story

Station #1….. Jesus is Buried in the Tomb

After all this, Joseph of Arimathea (he was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, because he was intimidated by the Jews) petitioned Pilate to take the body of Jesus. Pilate gave permission. So Joseph came and took the body. Nicodemus, who had first come to Jesus at night, came now in broad daylight carrying a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds. They took Jesus’ body and, following the Jewish burial custom, wrapped it in linen with the spices. There was a garden near the place he was crucified, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been placed. So, because it was Sabbath  preparation for the Jews and the tomb was convenient, they placed Jesus in it. (John 19:38-42)

Worth a Thousand Words: The Entombment of Christ, by Carl Bloch.

A Reflection:

The linen shroud. Made in herringbone pattern of intertwining threads. His birth, His life, death, resurrection interwoven with ours, each and all. His holiness interwoven with our humanity and fallenness and bent-over, twisted, contorted selves.

He was weaving and interweaving when He walked with us, day after day, story after story, word and touch and instruction, meals in all sorts of company, in all seasons and weathers. Braiding together each strand of our lives with His. Doing the herringbone linen weave, the three-braided cord that cannot be broken, with care and give and longevity. With you-are-not-alone. Taking our life into His. Living His life with us. Common. In all the best senses of the word.

That life and that cloth interwoven as well. Linen. Pure, High Priestly linen. Worn for service. To light the lamps. Burn the incense. Set out the loaves. And enter once a year the Holiest of Places. “Has in these last days… entered once for all.”

That cloth, The Shroud, woven and pretreated, anointed and flowered. Blood-spotted, light-dashed, fire-burned, water-stained. And stitched and patched and touched by hands-up, displaying-outward priests, brought out to heal the sick, to be kissed by knights at midnight vigils. Hidden in jars and reliquaries and made plain in paintings and tapestries. And in these last days, brought forth to be put under 21st century scrutiny – zapped and measured, lasered and scraped, 3-D’d and photographed, snipped and dipped. Examined. And found to be common and rare – still covered in mystery. (Sheridan Larson)

Resurrection, Present Tense:

It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s! (Romans 8:10-11)