Sunday School at 9 am | worship at 10 am

What About the In-Between Part of the Story?

We commemorate the death of Jesus on the cross on Friday, and celebrate his resurrection on Sunday.  Twice. (You will be coming to the Sunrise Service, won’t you?)  But what about the in- between part of the story? 

 

Most of us, when we read the story of Jesus’ life, tend to go straight from his death to his resurrection. Almost without thinking, we go from “He gave up his spirit” to “Early on the first day of the week” as if nothing
important happened in between. But it is precisely at this point that we should stop and take another look at the biblical text. The simple word “buried” tells us more than what happened to the body of Jesus. It alerts us to an area of biblical truth that we might otherwise overlook.  Since Easter Sunday is all about the resurrection, and since we don’t have a Saturday service to commemorate the burial of Jesus, I’m going to use this space to point us to the significance of Christ’s burial.

 

When you read the account of the crucifixion, the burial, and the resurrection, you’ll notice that the Bible provides a lot of detail regarding the burial of Christ.  Have you ever wondered why? I can think of several answers to that question, but I’m only going to elaborate on a few.

 

To prove that he really died. This was a huge issue in the early church—and remains so to this very day. The details of his burial reinforce the central truth—that Jesus really and truly died on the cross.

 

To show the true cost our salvation. We are accustomed to saying, “Our sins put Jesus on the cross.” That’s true, but we can say it stronger than that. “Our sins sent him to the grave.” He was buried because he died carrying the heavy burden of our guilt and shame. The burial of Jesus shows us the true end of our rebellion and lawlessness. Left to ourselves, we end up in the grave—which is where our Lord ended up after he had suffered for our sins.

 

His burial is in a remarkably mysterious way connected with our baptism.  In baptism, we declare our desire to be united with the Lord Jesus Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection.

 

Last Sunday, four young women (EIU students) approached me to declare their desire to be baptized.  So, Lord willing, this Sunday, we will celebrate the baptisms of Michelle Amaning, McKenna Littrell, Shannon Rahn, and Amanda Wright.  They’re all excited!  And so am I! 

 

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come
(2 Corinthians 5:17).