Cheering us on and a rich man’s tomb
Today’s Text - Matthew 27, but more specifically - Matthew 27:57-66
I was talking with a parishioner today. She shared with me that she likes to stop by the cemetery sometimes for prayer and reflection. What a great idea! I often do the same thing. Cemeteries get a bad reputation sometimes in the general public. But amongst Christians - we understand that it is not a place of the dead, but place of memory of life, and a place to go for the living to reflect on the saints who have gone on ahead of us. Many parishioners over the last few weeks have mentioned that they are thinking about their predecessors - family members and friends who have passed away and are now alive again with Christ.
As I went to St. Petri cemetery in Cyrus I heard that all the frogs had come back to life - literally - they freeze solid over the winter, and then resuscitate in the spring. It got me thinking. I wonder if the popular understanding of the cemetery is that we are going to talk with the dead. Ew. No. No we aren’t. We are going to talk to the living. And we go to the cemetery, not because thats the only place we can go to talk with the saints, but rather because it is a place that we need to go for reflection and memory. It is a place that has been covered with prayer, blessing, tears, laughter, and love. Each stone marks the life of someone who is loved - not hopelessly or morbidly, but with joy that we will see them again, and with joy that they are remembered here - that their life here mattered.
Finally- as Easter approaches, as we consider the death and resurrection of Jesus, who opened the way to our resurrection, it is appropriate to think the man who gave Jesus his tomb - his own resting place. And then - on the day of the resurrection, the women go to the tomb and see an angel roll away the stone - for it was guarded by soldiers! The angel rolls away the stone - not to let Jesus out - because he has already gone on ahead. Instead, the stone is moved to let the witnesses in!
We go to the cemetery not to speak to the dead, but to reflect and remember those who have gone ahead of us - whom we will see again - and who are now cheering us on through thought times that cause us to wonder how they made it through in the first place.
Prayer: Jesus - thank you that you go ahead of us into death, where we fear to go - and in so doing, make it powerless over our lives today, and bring us into life together with you and those we look forward to seeing soon. In your name we pray. Amen.