The Parable of the Tomb

 

The Parable of the Tomb

There is a place on the North Branch of the Oconto River that is a favorite of mine.  Upstream from where the water is deep and brooding is a place where the water rushes down a granite staircase and giggles and gurgles around and over huge boulders and gravel bars midstream.  Here the river sings almost year-round.  Almost year-round.  But when winter comes frigid cold in January and February there are several weeks when the ice seals the river, silences the song, and snow piles deep upon the hushed rapids.     

“Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden was a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.  Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.” John 19:41-42

The tomb.  Sealed in stone.

No place declares the end of things like the tomb.  It is a place of finality.  It is cold.  It is silent.  It is lifeless.

Little wonder then that the Lord of constant beginnings would work his greatest miracle here.  There is no parable greater than the tomb. 

The crucified body is but a seed planted in the dark of the earth.  Today is a day for weeping over the pain that Jesus suffered because of us, and even more importantly, for us.  It is good to linger here, at the tomb.  “Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Matthew 5:4

The stone will be rolled back – not to let the Lord out because the stone was no barrier to his glorified body, but the stone was rolled back to allow us to look within and see that he is not there.  To see and believe.

Because of this tomb, all tombs now hold the seed of everlasting promise, of promise everlasting.

His Peace <><

Deacon Dan

Photo by Pisit Heng on Unsplash