Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.
Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
John 19:38-42
Questions
What was the last funeral you attended?
How do you remember the ones you have lost?
What do you think is the purpose of a funeral?
Meditation
This station is a cross section of two elements typically involved in our burial ritual – a flower and a shovel.
You may have experienced the ritual of throwing flowers into a grave at a funeral ceremony.
No one actually knows when this tradition started, and various explanations have been given for why it’s practiced. One opinion is that flowers help us say what we find difficult to say. They are a symbol of our gratitude, honor, grief, and well wishes to one who had such an effect on our lives. Throwing a flower into a grave is our final tribute to the gift to us that was their incarnation.
Another explanation is that flowers signify the beginning of life. Placing flowers in a grave expresses a hope that the deceased will start a new life after death.
The shovel is a representation of how we excavate a hole in the earth to place our deceased loved ones. It reminds us of our humanity, that we are His creation. “From dust you came. And to dust you shall return.” The poem at the beginning of Genesis speaks to a Creator making a human form out of dirt – which is just the elements of the universe – and animating that form with His own breath. So it makes sense that when we witness the spirit of that form depart, we would naturally return the dirt portion of the form back to the Earth.
The flower and the shovel remind us that we are the union of soul and dirt, spirit and material, something tangible and intangible. We remember that there is a part of us that returns to the dirt, and there is another part of us we have no idea where it goes.
Jesus in His humanity – died – and was buried. But this is not the end.
If this was it, if this was the completion of the story, it was great sadness. But on Friday – we remember – Sunday is coming.
We have hope. We have peace. We have … Sunday coming.
Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, may I be thankful for Your sacrifice. May I never forget I am Your creation, but the material is only part of who I am. May I remember … the grave doesn’t have the final word … Sunday is coming.