Tombs are interesting concepts if you think about it – a to-go box for a dead body. Ever since the beginning, there have been customs and traditions of caring for the remains of individuals. Archeologists and scientists have found countless graves and all of them tell their own story. They whisper details about the events surrounding the disposal of the body, and in turn share intimate secrets of the life that surrounded this person as well.
There have been decades old murders that have been solved with the discovery of the bones of the deceased. (Documentaries have been created from this and even a tv drama series created based on this.)
The concept of a tomb, even the etymology of the word, all point to remembering the one who is no longer physically present, whose life has ended. Obviously, tombs are not as much for the dead as they are for the LIVING! While the dead require a place for the remains to reside – and it’d be weird and quite nasty if they piled up in a closet in your house – the living need a space to hold on, grieve, and remember.
I’ve stood at dozens of open graves with family and friends as we have said final goodbyes and laid the bones of loved ones to rest. There’s something so final and permanent about this act, which is part of the healing process, but is always an emotional time, and understandably so.
People spend thousands of dollars on the casket, flowers to surround it, and the headstone to go on top of the ground to mark it.
This is somewhat ridiculous to be honest. Dressing up a skeleton as pretty as possible won’t make it any more alive than a pile of sticks. But in a way, it’s what we hope for, it’s what we’re doing. It makes us feel better to mask death in things that seem more alive and paint beauty over what is disgusting and dark.
However, this is the kind of life that God warns against. When the followers of Jesus went to the tomb after he was hurriedly buried (so as to not violate any Sabbath laws) to dress his body up with perfumes and oils per customs, the angels who were inside the grave asked the women, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5)
If you feel like you are all dolled up and expensive, head to toe, but feel dead inside, perhaps this question if for you – why are you looking for life in the midst of dead things? Jesus is ALIVE and in him we find life…not in anything else! Maybe you are in need of a new outlook and your own resurrection, and coming to this Truth will set you free.
Maybe that doesn’t suit you or strike a nerve. Chew this instead: Jesus paints a picture for some of the more religious folks regarding this same issue saying that church attendance, political affiliation, and being ‘good’ can’t eradicate the funk and decay happening on the inside. Are you “trying hard,” doing “right” things, saying you believe in God, but little or no fruit of the Spirit is evident in your life and the only place Jesus has is on a cross decoration on your wall? Maybe this is the message for you to let simmer and give you some perspective.
Regardless of which side of the coin you find yourself on, would you allow the Holy Spirit to speak NEW LIFE into the dead places in which you’re living? The tomb is inevitable, but let’s not make it something that it is not, nor was it intended to be.
#CheckYoSelf
#TombStone
#RestoringWholenessOfLife
Brett
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