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JESUS BURIED (MARK 15:42-47) HOLY WEEK REFLECTION

REFLECTION
The theme for our reflection is “Jesus buried.” To be buried means to place a corpse or dead body in the earth, grave or tomb. We shall reflect on the fact that the burial of Jesus was necessary for us to experience the power of His resurrection as Lord and Saviour.

Beloved in the Lord, for a seed to germinate, it must first be planted or buried in the soil. For Jesus’s work of salvation to be complete He had to go through every stage of human experience and reality. These realities are existence, suffering, death and burial. Resurrection is the only divine reality and authority that can only be exercised by Jesus when He returns the second time. Life or human existence, suffering, death and burial are the normal and unavoidable stages of everyone’s life since the fall of Adam and Eve. However, for our sake, Jesus went through a life of sacrifice, a shameful and agonising suffering, a painful death on the cross, and unlike most people, he had a simple and private burial. Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. (Mark 15:43) He gave the body of Jesus a dignifying burial. “So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. ⁴⁷ Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid.” (Mark 15:46-47) The burial of Jesus was necessary within the divine plan of God’s salvation for humanity. It sets the stage for the next big event which makes our salvation complete. This big event is the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. How can there be a resurrection if there is no burial? Jesus gives us hope that the burial of the body is not the end of one’s journey, burial precedes the bigger event of resurrection. In other words, life after death for the believer begins with resurrection. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. (1 Peter 3:18)

Beloved in the Lord, we also have the assurance that we shall be made alive in the Spirit after our bodies have been buried, for “… flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹ Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed — ⁵² in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³ For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality” 1 (Corinthians 15:50-53) It is for this reason we are assured in Revelation 14:13, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” (Revelation 14:13) For those who die in Christ, death and burial ushers us into a state of temporary rest even as we await the day of our resurrection and eternal life.

Beloved in the Lord, we all know our date of birth that is why we celebrate our birthdays every year but the day of death is unknown to us except God. What shall we do now even as we await our day of death and burial? Beloved in the Lord “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, ²⁸ so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9:27-28) How prepared are we before our death and burial? Let us remember that there is no opportunity to repent after we have died and have been buried. Let us repent and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour before the day of our death or departure so that we can say with Paul that “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-39) Again, when we live in Christ we are never afraid of death, like Paul we shall boldly declare that “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. ⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day —and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:6-8)

In summary, we have reflected on the theme ” The Burial of Jesus” We have discovered that Jesus’s burial was necessary to set the stage for the next big event, the Resurrection. It is important for all to die in Christ to experience the power of His resurrection and eternal life. Shalom.

PRAYER

Dear Lord Jesus, into Your hands we commit our lives. May we live and die serving You faithfully so that we shall experience the power of Your resurrection after our mortal remains have been buried. Amen.