December 16. The Sepulcher

"In the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulcher. There they laid Jesus." John 19:41, 42 As we stand by this garden-tomb, many thoughts are suggested. Christ touched life at every point. Beginning at infancy, He went through every phase — at last lying down in a grave. There is no path on which His footprints are not seen. There is no place any of us shall have to stand, in of which we may not say, "Jesus was here. He passed through this experience; therefore He knows all about it." We dread the grave; we think of its darkness; but since Jesus has lain there — why should we fear its gloom? Another suggestion, comes from the fact that this tomb was provided for Jesus — by His friends. Writers have noted this as another mark of His humiliation. When He was born — His cradle was a borrowed feeding trough in a stable. During His ministry — He had "nowhere to lay His head." When He died — He was buried in a borrowed grave. Another thought, as we look at the sepulcher, is how hopeless everything seemed for the time. He on whom the disciples had leaned as the Messiah — is now silent in death, His work apparently finished. All the expectations based on Him, depended on His living to ascend a throne. It certainly seemed now to His friends, that all was over. Yet the grave was simply the low gateway to glory. As we see it now, in the light that streams from the gospel, it interrupted no plan, quenched no light, destroyed no hope. When shall we learn to bring the truth of immortality into our own faith and hopes? We stand by the graves of our Christian friends, almost as disconsolate as were these friends of Jesus around His grave. Why shall we not learn faith? Death ends nothing for those who die in the Lord — nothing but struggle, sorrow, and sin! No hopes perish — when a Christian is buried. Just beyond, is eternal glory!