Buried

AUTHOR'S NOTE: These devotional thoughts are scheduled to end with Easter tomorrow. If there is sufficient interest, they will be continued. Please give indication of such a desire either in the comment section below or via facebook. Thanks.

Text: Luke 23:50-56

"Crucified, dead, and buried . . .." So we recite in the Apostles' Creed concerning the end of pre-resurrection life of our Lord. Today's text is Luke's giving flesh and bone to the line in the creed, including mention of those who saw to it that the burial be done with customary dignity.

Rather than the details, however significant they may be to other concerns, let us fix our attention for today on the fact of Jesus' burial and what it means to believers through the ages. The day between crucifixion and resurrection gives due time to think of the meaning of both what has died and what is yet to come. It is, in the words of a great hymn, "death of death and hell's destruction," accompanied by the prayer to "land us safe on heaven's shore."

Through the past week the reflections have centered around the experiences of various kinds of suffering which we are prone to encounter in life. We noted that Jesus Christ, the man, walked the very same path, and is very much our brother in times of great distress because he has been down that road. When we dare to believe that he bore our burdens of sin and sadness, we can see these burdens in only one place--the tomb of Jesus. The pain of abandonment, betrayal, rejection, and physical, psychological, and emotional trauma is laid in the tomb with Christ for those who are "in Him." They no longer define us or identify us; they have lost their power to control us as we await new life.

Before Easter dawns anew, we are encouraged to allow the things which bind us to die their death in Christ. He has already borne them. Imagine what it would be like to have that old feud or grudge, that nagging sense of unforgiveness, the rocky relationship, the abandonment of a once-trusted friend no longer tell you who you are. Now imagine that it does not depend on that other person because Christ has borne it all. Let death come, let the sin and sadness be buried.