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The Tomb of Darkness
Tuesday, March 26, 2024 by Dave Holland

The Tomb of Darkness

 

Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. Luke 23:50-56

 

The tomb breathes cold, clammy air. The cave shrouds the dead body and cradles Christ’s dead body like the swaddling clothes that welcomed Him into the world. His dead body lies still all night.

Imagine he lay asleep resting, it was the Sabbath after all. I have been in that tomb and it is not a place you want to hang around. The cavernous tomb is closed, dirty, and makes you claustrophobic. How would you feel resting in a sealed crypt waiting?

The cross of Calvary had done its cruel work to our Master and Joseph of Arimathea was the one who dealt with the lifeless, bloody body of Christ. Joseph was well-to-do, highly educated and esteemed as a holy man. He was a member of the national religious leadership body called the Sanhedrin. By touching a dead body he disqualified himself from worship the next day. How did he feel lifting Jesus’ body?

Curiously, the scriptures refer to this time as the Preparation for the Sabbath. Surely the Law and the Prophets were preparation for this moment. Over fifteen hundred years the Jews had rested on the Sabbath in anticipation of this very day, yet only Joseph and a few women were present. Can you imagine the grief that gripped their hearts as they wrapped clean linen around his body? They worked in haste on Friday as no work could be done from Friday sundown to Sunday morning.

Grief slowed the work of Joseph and the women. Their mindless motion slowed them to a crawl, yet they did as much as they could before sundown. Then they hurried home to weep and wait until Sunday to finish the morbid work of embalming the Resurrection and the Life.

It’s hard to summon your faith when it feels lifeless? Jesus is gone. Hope is shattered, your future in shambles, your body aching with despair, those are the times when you decide who or what you really believe in. Those are the times of preparation for something more.

Joseph and the women summoned a lot of faith that day–they handled Christ’s dead body and did what needed to be done. All the evidence of defeat was lying on a stone slab in the tomb without the slightest flutter of life.

Quiet, grievous waiting is their groundwork. The Greek word translated “preparation” above is the same word used in Ephesians 6:15 where Paul admonishes Christians to have their feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. In Christ tomb lay the body and blood that would pay the price for our atonement. The anger of God toward our sin would be appeased and peace with God was purchased for us.

Holy Saturday then acknowledges those of us struggling between post-traumatic defeat and pre-resurrection hope. This is a day of loss, but also a day of quiet hope. Psalm 15 reminds us, For you will not leave my soul among the dead, nor let your beloved know decay.

Can you still believe when you are grieving, and all is silent? Can you have faith when your body seems to be dead, and you didn’t get what you expected out of life? Turn to Jesus like Joseph and the women did.

Say with me, “Rest well today my Savior, for tomorrow there is a stone to be moved, a grave to be conquered and a light to be shone on those who lay in darkness.


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