The Lutheran Hour
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"Buried!"
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Text: 2 Kings 13:21
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Hear the word of the Lord from 2 Kings 13:21, “Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.” This is our text.
An old “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” TV show was about a woman in prison who became good friends with a prison caretaker. When a prisoner died he would ring the bell, get the body, put it in a casket, and nail it shut. Then, placing the casket on a wagon, he would take it to the graveyard outside the prison walls and bury the corpse.
Knowing this routine, the woman devised an escape plan and shared it with this caretaker. “The next time the bell rings,” she said, “I’ll leave my cell and sneak into the coffin with the dead body. Nail the lid shut and take the coffin outside the prison with me in it. Bury the coffin,” she continued, “and because there will be enough air for me to breathe for some time, you can come back to the graveyard that night, dig up the coffin, and set me free.” The caretaker agreed to the plan.
One day this woman heard the ringing of the death bell. She arose, walked down the hallway, found the coffin containing the dead body and climbed in. Soon she heard the pounding of hammer and nails. The coffin was lifted onto the wagon and taken outside to the graveyard. After the dirt was poured on the coffin she began to giggle out loud, “I’m free, free!”
Feeling curious she lit a match to identify the prisoner beside her, and in the glimmer of light she discovered that she was laying next to the dead caretaker! In classic Alfred Hitchcock fashion, this final scene fades as we hear the woman screaming, screaming, screaming, then silence.
Ever been buried like that before? Sure you have, and so have I. We’ve been buried in questions. “If God is so good, why do I hurt so bad?” “If Jesus is the light, why am I in the dark?” We’ve been buried in disappointment. “You’re just not like your older brother!” “You’re just not like our last boss!” We’ve been buried in responsibilities; “Here’s a thirty-page case study, be ready to discuss it tomorrow. Honey, the kids have softball and baseball games, tomorrow. And don’t forget, you have a dentist appointment tomorrow!”
We’ve been buried in the past; the minute we lost our temper, the hour we lost our purity, the day we lost control, the years we lost our priorities. And on top of it all, literally, we’re buried in our daily self-assertion, self-righteousness, self-satisfaction, self-sufficiency and self-will.
Buried, boxed in, six feet under, again, as you listen to this broadcast, just now – it’s dark, tight, claustrophobic and the enemy has nailed the lid shut. And if you aren’t screaming, there are probably heavy sighs and lifeless looks and empty hearts.
Buried, boxed in, six feet under, so also the man in our text: “Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb.”
Talk about adding insult to injury. Okay, so he’s dead, right? This is not a good thing. Neither is the fact that the biblical historian doesn’t bother to state his name, tribe, or even his hometown. It gets worse. During the funeral procession some malicious Moabites show up looking to capitalize on Israel’s weakness during her Aramean occupation. The funeral is suddenly interrupted and the final nail is hammered into the coffin as the dead man is haphazardly thrown away, like a hot potato!
But as the Lord’s direction would have it, the pallbearers throw a strike, they hit the bull’s-eye, bingo and jackpot and grand slam and yes, the corpse lands on Elisha! And in the 9th century BC if you were buried, Elisha was your man. He parts the waters of the Jordan, clears the spring outside of Jericho of impurities, promises a son to the barren Shunammite woman and then resurrects the child from the dead. He nullifies poisonous gourds planted by one of the prophetic guilds, feeds one hundred men with twenty loaves of barley and some fresh ears of grain, heals Naaman of leprosy, blinds a Syrian raiding party and leads the captive into captivity into Samaria. This Elisha even retrieves a lost ax-head by causing it to float upon the water!
But the most awesome work was done in his death. “When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.” Just like his mentor Elijah, Elisha is called “The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” (2 Kings 13:14) Meaning what? Meaning that when defeat seemed certain, these prophets marshaled the power of horses and chariots for a stunning come-from-behind victory!
Ah, but there’s an even greater Prophet in our world, and because we’re buried, boxed in and six feet under, He’s our Man. This Prophet parts the heavens when He is at the Jordan, cleans the temple in Jerusalem of its impurities, resurrects the widow’s son at Nain, Jairus’ daughter and Lazarus. He nullifies the poisonous platitudes planted by the Pharisees, feeds over five thousand men with five loaves of bread and two fish, heals lepers, binds the strong man, and leads the captive into captivity. This Jesus retrieves not an axe head, but a four-drachma coin from a fish caught by Peter!
But the most awesome work was done in the frailty of this Son. It was high noon at the OK Corral and “the chariots and horsemen of Israel” put down his gun! “Go ahead,” He said, “Take your best shot – shoot me!” And the enemy located and used every weapon of mass destruction. Judas, Pilate, Herod, thorns, nails, spear, darkness, sweat and screaming, screaming, screaming, until there was total silence.
It’s all ended “crucified, dead and buried.” Nothing is as bottomless as a pit, as lifeless as a grave, as hopeless as a tomb. Smell the mildew, the odor of blood, the stench of death. See the confines, the darkness, the sealed stone.
Witness the charred marks of a divine explosion to life! “The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And so the Church sings during this joyful Eastertide, “Jesus Christ is Risen Today”; “I Know that My Redeemer Lives!”; “Ye Sons and Daughters of the King”; “Jesus Lives, the Victory’s Won”; “The Strife is O’er, the Battle Won”; “Now All the Vault of Heaven Resounds!” It all means there is nothing dead about our Jesus!
Cramped by the chaos, suffocating in the stillness, trapped in transgressions and sins, screaming in the silence, let’s light a match and see who we’re buried with because if we’re buried with a prophet we come to life, and stand up on our feet!
Well get this – Romans 6:4: “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life!”
Again, Colossians 2:12, “… having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.”
If you have been baptized then you have been buried and raised with “The chariots and horsemen of Israel.” Your certain defeat is turned into a stunning, bottom of the ninth inning, come-from-behind victory. And so our buried, boxed-in scream is forever changed into a baptized, forgiven, Spirit-filled endless Easter Hallelujah! Amen.
Lutheran Hour Mailbox (Questions & Answers) for April 25, 2004
Topic: What Was Jesus’ Tomb Like?ANNOUNCER: Now Pastor Ken Klaus answers questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer.
KLAUS: First we want to thank our guest speaker, Dr. Reed Lessing, for his message about being buried with Christ. We do pray the Lord’s continued blessing upon his work at Concordia Seminary.
ANNOUNCER: Today’s question is, “What did Jesus’ tomb look like?”
KLAUS: Interesting question. Maybe Mark, the easiest way to deal with that question is first to say that Israel is a country with an abundance of rocky terrain and a great many caves. For that reason, it was fairly common for people to bury their dead in a natural cave or, if they were rich enough, they’d have a special tomb cut out of the rock into the side of a hill.
ANNOUNCER: What if they were really poor though, and couldn’t afford a tomb or a cave?
KLAUS: Then they’d probably be buried in an unmarked location. In the case of Jesus, however, He was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, a very rich man. Joseph had just paid to have a grave cut out of the rock for himself and his family. The grave had never been used.
ANNOUNCER: Why is it important for us to say that the tomb had never been used before? And why did Joseph of Arimathea have a grave made big enough for himself and his family?
KLAUS: Mark, the Bible reports that Joseph’s grave, the one in which Jesus’ lifeless body had been placed, had never been used before. That means there wasn’t a case of mistaken identity when the women and the disciples came to the tomb. And yes, it was not uncommon for one grave to be made for an entire family; even today families often buy burial plots after they figure out who might want to be placed together. It was no different back then. A rich man would often instruct the workers to make the tomb big enough for his entire relation; so there would be one big tomb, and in that tomb the workmen would cut various ledges into the rock. Those ledges would hold the bodies.
ANNOUNCER: What would happen though, after all the ledges were filled up?
KLAUS: After a body had fully decomposed and all that was left was the bones, the mourners would clear off the ledge, collect the bones, and put them into a box called an ossuary. That way, new places would always be available for new bodies.
ANNOUNCER: Now couldn’t someone just come in though, and steal those bodies from the cave or the sepulcher?
KLAUS: If the mourners had left the entrance open, that could easily have been the case. But when such a tomb was made, the owner would usually have a heavy door placed at the entrance of the tomb. Sometimes he would have a round stone cut, something that looked like a giant wheel, that could be rolled out of the way when one of the mourners came to pay their respects.
ANNOUNCER: How big would that stone be?
KLAUS: It could easily weigh a couple of tons. Rolling that stone back and forth would be made somewhat easier by the fact that a track was usually cut to help it move in the rock.
ANNOUNCER: But still, that would have been quite a job.
KLAUS: Absolutely. That’s why the ladies, as they went to Jesus’ tomb on Resurrection Sunday asked themselves, “Who’s going to roll away the stone for us?” (Mark 16:3)
ANNOUNCER: Now they had another problem as well; I mean, beyond the sheer mass of this stone, right?
KLAUS: Well, a number of difficulties. First Pilate, at the request of the High Priests, had the tomb sealed to make sure it stayed shut. Second, soldiers were placed at the tomb to guard the entrance.
ANNOUNCER: And what kind of seal would they have used to protect the grave from tampering?
KLAUS: It could have been a wax seal, like the kind we see placed on letters today. Part of the wax would have been on the stone, part on the wall or, it might have been a clay seal. Either way the seal would probably have been marked with a special logo to make sure the grave wasn’t broken into and then resealed.
ANNOUNCER: So the ladies would have had a very difficult time getting in there?
KLAUS: An almost impossible time of it. But by the time they arrived, Jesus wasn’t there. He had come forth from the grave. The stone was rolled away, the guards were gone.
ANNOUNCER: Now some people have said the angel rolled the stone away in order to let Jesus out.
KLAUS: I think, Mark, that since Jesus defeated death, He would have had no difficulty exiting a closed tomb. If Jesus could get into locked rooms to visit His disciples, He wasn’t going to have any problems with a grave. No, the stone was rolled away from the tomb, not to let Jesus out, but to let humanity in, to let us see that Jesus wasn’t there. The angels said it, “we shouldn’t seek the living among the dead.” (Luke 24:5)
ANNOUNCER: Do we know the location of Jesus’ tomb?
KLAUS: If you go to Jerusalem, the tour guides will point to a number of spots. But we don’t know for certain. How could we? Jesus isn’t there! He is risen!
ANNOUNCER: Thank you Pastor Klaus. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.