Holy Week, Part 6

Click here to read Mark 15:38-47

I wanted to back up and retrace a bit of the passage from yesterday. There were two points about the events right after Jesus died for us to consider. The first is that the temple curtain is torn from top to bottom. In Jesus day, there was a Holy City: Jerusalem. And there was a holy site: the temple. And then there was the Holy of Holies, which like in the Wizard of Oz, was hid behind a curtain. Only certain people were allowed into the Holy of Holies.

If you look back at Mark 1:9-11, Jesus’ baptism, you will see a foreshadowing of the temple curtain being torn. As Jesus is coming up out of the water, cradled in John the Baptizer’s arms the heavens are torn open. Back in January when we centered ourselves in church on this passage, we talked about how that was an image that God is on the loose in our lives, so too here. God is on the loose as the temple curtain which separated where God resided from where the People of God resided was now torn in half. No longer was there a Holy of Holies. We are drenched and saturated in the sacredness.

The second point is the comments of the centurion. I direct you to David Lose’s blog, In the Meantime…, to read his thoughts on this which I think are very interesting. Feel free to rummage around his site and read his thoughts.

As we turn specifically to the women watching and Jesus’ burial, it is important to note the profound role women play in the Easter narrative. When all the disciples scattered, the women remained. When all the others had left in fear or confusion, Joseph from Arimathea dared to bury Jesus. Tom Long writes about the Jewish ritual of burial. When a Jewish person died, the body was anointed with spices and wrapped in a linen cloth and laid in a tomb before sundown. Joseph is able to do two out of those three important rituals. However, what we have become so accustom to hearing and what goes against the Jewish ritual is rolling a stone or sealing a tomb. Within the Jewish ritual, the first seven days after death are referred to as shivah, and the first three days of shivah, a tomb was to be unsealed so family members could visit, mourn and ensure that the deceased was actually dead. “Palestinian Jews shared a common Middle Eastern view that the soul of the deceased lingered near the body for three days, but when three days had passed and the inevitable change in facial appearance made it clear that death had indeed occurred, the resigned spirit departed.” (Tom Long, Accompany Them Singing, pg. 62).

Why did Joseph seal the tomb? Maybe it was to keep people out? Maybe it was because Rome said he could have Jesus’ body only if he sealed the tomb? For whatever reason, Jesus’ burial did not exactly follow the ritual rule book…which is why we have the Easter morning narrative!

One final comment: notice that the women saw everything. They saw Jesus death. The witnessed Jesus’ burial. And they will be the ones to see his resurrection. So, today, I invite you to keep your eyes wide open. Easter awakens our senses. Easter invites us to experience profound truths that cannot be captured in words. Easter is about seeing the pain in this world, not shielding our eyes or ignoring the plight. Seeing is what sets the stage for Easter.

Prayer: Gracious God on this Maundy Thursday evening as we gather around the table where Christ breaks bread and pours out a cup of forgiveness/wholeness, help open our eyes to see You in our lives every hour. In the name of the One who invites us to come, for all things are ready, Jesus our Christ. Amen.