Were You There When They Laid Him In The Tomb?

Were You There When They Laid Him In The Tomb?

Good Morning Friends,

Through the mouth of a madman Nietzsche said, “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?”

On this day between Good Friday and the Easter Resurrection, it is an appropriate time to contemplate just how much we are connected to this Jesus, the one who died for us. And sometimes, I think, we do not recognize Christ. On the journey we might be too preoccupied to see and hear. Maybe we think him a gardener or a ghost but if we pay attention we can discover that Jesus’ spirit has been with us all along, even on this day, as we ask: Were You There When They Laid Him In The Tomb?

Scripture: ⁵For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,^* knowing good and evil.’

Genesis 3:5 (NRSV)

To the leader. Of David.¹ Fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is no one who does good.

Psalm 14:1 (NRSV)

Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

Mark 1:15 (NRSV)

⁴²‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.’

Luke 22:42 (NRSV)

⁴⁰They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. ⁴¹Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. ⁴²And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

John 19:40-42 (NRSV)

3For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, ⁴and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,

I Corinthians 15:3-4 (NRSV)

Message: The slow death of religion in the United States, outside Hollywood, is a major obstacle to our destiny as the people of God. And it all relates to our will being exacted over God’s will. Poor choice.
It is as if we live in that time of Saturdays waiting for Jesus to come back and in His absence decide to rule ourselves.  It is not so easy for us to receive redemption in this state. Yes, we live in this space of Holy History between the darkness of what has been called Good Friday and the tantalizing riddle of the universe that opened up on Easter Sunday. Here on Saturday we live with only the hint of the sealing promise of Jesus’ return to extend the cosmic miracle. Indeed the world is exploded to embrace priorities that are opposite of God’s. And so it is that in truly repenting, if we repent, we discover that only the Kingdom of hope has arrived all broken up…and though it has arrived with power…. it has also arrived powerfully upside down awaiting Christ’s return as we seek to become the Body of Christ together and in repentance submit to his gracious rule even as we await His return. You see the idea that God remains dead is primarily a challenge to God’s authority over our lives. The notion that we can safely create our own rules is basically the same lie that the serpent told Eve. So today we contemplate what it is like in a world with no God and the whole experience leaves us sad, lonely and wanting even though Jesus’ death set us free. Oh we can be confused with a false sense of freedom in saying God does not exist…that God is dead, but it is empty. So today we seek a way from the profane to the sacred in the greater hope in the meaning of an empty tomb. Today we realize we do not really know what we have had until it is gone. Today we might just realize that God will be God and His life is everlasting and God’s glorious love available to us even now.

Pray we revisit, repent and renew our lives in the power of the Holy Spirit before the throne of God. Pray we be humble. Pray that the attitudes of our hearts and the outward visible way we live change in response to Jesus. Pray we pursue right thinking and right living. Pray we ask for help. Pray we individually confess our sins. Pray we be open to the Holy Spirit and our collective call to repentance. Pray we share a cultural belief in a living God. Pray we realize that out of death comes new life.

Blessings,

John Lawson