24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 1 Peter 2:24 KJV
Burial
The cross reminds us of so many things. Christ’s sacrifice. His death for us. The resurrection beyond the cross.
One year when my youngest child was about five, it meant yet one thing more.
Peter had been in the backyard with his six year old friend, two large pieces of used wood, an old hammer,and a few bent nails. I heard their whispered consultations and hammering through the open window.
“Don’t come out yet, Mom. It’s a surprise for you. We’re almost done,” drifted up to me.
More hammering followed. Finally, I heard him coming. I didn’t have to feign surprise at the large cross my son dragged through the front door. It was beginning to occur, even to him by now, that this was, perhaps, not quite the perfect gift.
Saving face is important to five year old men. While I smiled and tried to look pleased, Peter nonchalantly learned against the door and said, “It’s all for you,Mom. What do you want to bury?”
I tried not to laugh and hugged him hard, but his words haunted me over the years. If Easter is a time of resurrection, we must also remember it was first a time of death. As we accept God’s gift of new life and forgiveness, we must also do our burying of the past. We must let God take our sins, our resentments,our sorrows,our failures,our losses,and let these be buried at the foot of His cross.
They are not to be resurrected.
As we turn at Easter, from the empty tomb, grateful for His Cross and His Love, let us with joy remember that with God’s grace, we can also bury.