CHAPTER XXXV Of the adorable Burial of the Lord Jesus
CHAPTER XXXV
Of the adorable Burial of the Lord Jesus
O LORD JESUS CHRIST, sweet Savour of life, and Brightness of the everlasting day, I bless Thee, and give thanks to Thee, for the careful preparing with precious spices of Thy sacred Body for Its burial. This was not indeed needful for warding off corruption; but Thou didst accept it as showing the devotion of Thy friends, and as being in accordance with Jewish custom—witness the instances of like burial recorded of certain of the Patriarchs and Kings.
I praise and glorify Thee, for the loving enwrapment of Thy sacred Body in a clean linen cloth, and for the respectful binding round of Thy ever-blessed Head with a pure white napkin, which was afterwards found in the Holy Sepulchre.
I praise and glorify Thee for the removal, amid many tears, of Thy Body to the place of Its burial; for the reverence with which It was placed there; for Thy condescension in lying in the new tomb hewn out of a rock, which was provided for Thee by Joseph, a noble counsellor; where, because the hour was late, Thou wast, by Thy weeping friends, honourably buried, and wast tightly closed up therein with a heavy stone.
Rejoice and be glad, O venerable Joseph, that so pious an office was thine, and that thou wast able to do this charitable work for Christ. I thank thee much, and heartily commend as worthy of all honour thy noble conduct throughout this matter; for not only didst thou ask of Pilate leave to bury the sacred Body, but for It thou didst open that very tomb, which thou hadst made ready for thine own future resting-place. How highly must God have thought of thee, when He, Whose dominion extends to the ends of the earth and over everything within the circuit of the Heavens, chose thy tomb above all other places in the world as the place of His Burial. Be sure, O most illustrious of men, that henceforth, so long as this world shall last, and one faithful soul shall be left in it, thou shalt ever be had in honour, both by God and by men.
For this most Holy Sepulchre shall be more noble and more glorious than all the sepulchres of Saints and Kings, and shall be celebrated throughout the world. From the uttermost parts of the earth shall pilgrims flock to visit this holy place, and to worship at the spot where the Body of their Lord was laid to rest. Here was Jesus buried, here the Crucified was laid; here did the holy women lament over Him, here were the guards set; here did Christ rise on the third day; here was Jesus seen of Mary Magdalene; here appeared from Heaven the Angel of the Lord; here were the guards struck with terror, and became as dead men.
Here then, by the Tomb, do thou, O my soul, for a while abide, so as to join the holy women in mourning over the Lord Jesus, Who for thy sake was laid in the grave. Fitting indeed is it that thou shouldst pay thy tribute of grief to Him, at Whose hands thou dost hope one day to receive the reward of joy eternal. Think how intense was the grief of all Christ’s faithful ones, and specially of the holy women, at seeing Jesus taken from them, and laid in a tomb—Christ for love of Whom they had given up all that they had, Whom they had followed hither and thither for so long, to Whom they had so often ministered of their substance, Whom they had loved so tenderly that they could scarce bring themselves to lose His sweet presence for even a short moment; with Whom they longed ever to live and to hold sweet converse, and through Whom they believed that joy everlasting would be theirs. The more intense their love, the more bitter surely will have been their grief.
But what above all rent the hearts of these sorrowing ones was the thought that the hope of their Lord’s rising again seemed to be at an end; and that their faith was, so to speak, buried with Jesus in the tomb. It seemed therefore to these poor women that the only comfort left them was to weep over Him Who had been taken from them, or to make ready sweet spices; that so if they could not bring Him back to life, they might at least, by their faithful service in embalming It, preserve His Body from decay. But, O holy and devoted women, ye who love Christ with an unquenchable love, do not, I pray you, lament over much; do not give way to despair; call to mind the words which Jesus Himself spoke to you when He was in Galilee, and wait yet a while for their fulfilment; for after three days He will without doubt rise again. Then quite plainly and with great joy, shall ye again see Him, over Whose burial, with spirits utterly broken and with such sad hearts, ye are now lamenting. Then shall the hearts of all His friends, who now so deeply mourn His death and burial, be filled with renewed joy; nor will He need this embalmment of yours, for when He rises from the dead He will appear in great glory. He will have put on immortality, and death shall no more have dominion over Him.
Learn thou too, O my soul, from the Burial of Jesus to meditate with profit upon the dissolution of thy own body. Needs must that what from the earth thou didst receive, that to the earth thou must restore: dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return. Upon what then dost thou pride thyself, thou who must soon be mere rottenness, and a thing hidden out of sight in the ground? What seest thou to yearn after in a world, out of which thou must so soon be cast, trodden under foot of men? Whenever then thou lookest upon the graves of the dead, remember that thou too wilt soon be with them. There—and thou knowest it well—there is the home appointed for every one that liveth. There, laid low together, content with a mere corner of earth, shall the rich man and the poor man share one bed. There gentleman and commoner cannot be known the one from the other, and the strong and the weak are upon the same footing. There the miser’s wealth will not profit him; nor will the crafty man be helped by all his cunning. There the epicure will be food for worms, and the fop will stink in the nostrils of the passer-by. There the loftiness of men will be bowed down, and the counsel of the haughty ones will be brought to nought. Remember that nothing mortal can endure for ever, and that man, having corrupted his nature by sin, must needs go back to the slime from which he was taken.
Strive so to live in this present world, and so to mortify by the spirit the deeds of the flesh, that when thy body is mouldering in the dust thy soul may be found meet to rest in a home of blessed peace. Spend the Good Friday of this life in painfulness and toil, and thou shalt have a Holy Saturday of rest, and an Easter of joy unspeakable at the resurrection of the just. The stricter therefore thy life in this world, the calmer shall be thy sleep in the tomb; the stronger now thy hold upon the Cross, the greater shall be thy confidence when thou comest into the presence of Christ. The more bitter now thy sorrow for thy sins, the fewer of them will there be to be purged away by the avenging fire.
Bewail then, bewail now thy sins, while the day of grace is thine, while the door of mercy stands open, while God, with Whom is plenteous Redemption, is ready to accept thy penitence. Bewail also the unhappy condition of the world, and that grievous softness of men, whence it comes that so few true followers of the Crucified are to be found, and that the spiritual fervour of so many soon grows cold.
Henceforth, then, be it thy daily practice to meditate upon Christ Jesus. Him Crucified keep ever before thy eyes; stand ever beneath thy Saviour’s Cross; in life and in death be with Jesus in the Tomb; that so when Christ, thy Life, shall appear, thou too mayest rise with Him in glory. Amen.