11. JESUS IS BURIED

Verses

“She has poured this perfume on me to prepare my body for burial.”
— Matthew 26:12 (NLT)

Luke 23:50–56

Questions

What was the last funeral you went to?
How do you remember the ones you have lost?
What do you think is the purpose of a funeral?

Meditation

This station shows two familiar objects: a flower and a shovel.

Flowers often appear at graves as symbols of remembrance and love. The shovel reminds us of the act of burial — the returning of the body to the earth. Together, the flower and the shovel remind us that human life is both fragile and precious, earthly and God-breathed.

Scripture teaches that humanity was formed from the dust of the ground, and that one day the body returns to the earth from which it came (Genesis 3:19).

After Jesus died, His body was taken down, wrapped, and laid in a tomb. Burial is quiet work. It is tender work. It is the work of those who love the one they have lost.

Jesus partook in being remembered.

Which is beautiful and sad at the same time.

Remembrance is beautiful because love does not disappear when a life ends. It allows people to return, in memory, to moments once shared in the presence of the one they have lost.

And remembrance is sad because it reminds them that no new moments will be made on this side of resurrection.

They remember that He used to be around.
They remember where He was buried.
They remember the loss that death brings.

And yet the burial of Christ is not the end of the story.

In Romans, the apostle Paul teaches that those who are united with Christ are buried with Him and raised to walk in newness of life. 

“Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.”  

                   — Romans 6:3-4 (NLT)

The grave is real, but for those who belong to Christ, it is not final.

The burial of Jesus is a moment of sorrow, silence, and waiting. But it is also a moment filled with promise. The One laid in the tomb will not remain there.

The Church prays with hope:

“Grant, O Lord, to all who are baptized into the death of Jesus Christ your Son that, as we have been buried with him in his death, we may also share in his resurrection.”
— Book of Common Prayer, p. 487