Cemeteries are interesting places.  While I don’t particularly savor attending funerals for someone I have loved, there are aspects of cemeteries that are quite compelling.  

Have you, when visiting a city or town with lots of history ever spent time in a cemetery because you knew there would be many things there that might shed some light on history?  There is an amazing cemetery on Tremont Street in Boston. It dates back to 1660 and folks like Sam Adams, John Hancock, and Paul Revere are buried there.

Then there are other cemeteries, like Arlington, that are so poignant, it can be hard to do anything but walk around in silence.  And cemeteries like our own Hidden Valley Cemetery in Snowmass Village is a magnificent place to reflect, pray, and give thanks for those who have been part of our lives.

But it might surprise you to hear that I’ve had quite a few chuckles at cemeteries as well.  Perhaps because I’ve officiated hundreds of funerals, for years, I have spent time reading epitaphs on headstones.  You can even find lists of epitaphs that have been verified that are a bit off the wall.

For example, there is this epitaph on a gravestone.  It reads, “Tried milking a cow that was really a bull.  Milk can is empty but the grave is full.” Or this one. “Here lies the shell.  The nut is gone.” Or this one at the grave of an auctioneer from 1876. “Going, going, going. Gone.”  Then there is this from a gravesite in New Mexico. “Here lies Johnny Yeast. Pardon me for not rising.”  And finally. “Ma loves Pa. Pa loves wimmin. Ma caught Pa with 2 in swimmin. Here lies Pa.”

I guess cemeteries came to mind these last few weeks for me because on Easter we talk about a tomb.  Granted, not an ordinary tomb, but a tomb nevertheless. And the tomb I’d like to talk about does not have an epitaph.  It does not need one as the person who was buried there is not there.

I believe if we spend enough time thinking about Easter and the fact that the tomb was empty and Jesus bodily rose from the dead, and if we can get to the place of trusting that the tomb was empty, even though we can’t see over the wall of death, Jesus’ resurrection tells us we have nothing to worry about and we can let go of any concerns anytime we come alongside of death.    

Jesus’ resurrection, in fact, gives us much more than just a peek about what is ahead and on the other side.  Jesus’ resurrection offers us tremendous hope, can affect how we live each day now, and offers us some solid things to hold onto about where we are headed in the future.

I love what one person says about Easter referring to Jesus’ empty tomb.  This person writes, “The world often offers promises full of emptiness. Easter offers emptiness full of promise.”  Indeed, the empty tomb is full of promises for each of us.

To help us explore what I mean about these things, let’s first for a moment take a look at the story of that first Easter morning and the days just before. On Friday, Jesus was nailed to a cross and died and by three that afternoon he took his last breath.  A man named Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate, who governed the land of Judah on behalf of the Roman emperor, if he could have Jesus’ body and take it for proper burial. Pilate agreed and Joseph along with another took Jesus’ body and placed it into a tomb. After they laid Jesus’ body in the tomb, the tomb was sealed.

Friday night, Saturday, and Saturday night passed.  Then early the next morning, around sunrise, or just before, some women got up early and went to the tomb.  They hoped that some folks would roll away the stone of the tomb so they could go inside and anoint Jesus’ body to prepare it for the long process of decay.  But when they arrived, they discovered the stone had already been rolled away.

If you read the four Gospel accounts of Easter morning in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, you will quickly notice that some of the details of that morning differ.  Clearly different people who were witnesses focused on different aspects of that Easter morning.

But what is intriguing is that the four Gospel accounts all share the basic facts that Jesus’ body was not present that Easter morning.  There is also a consensus that the women were told that Jesus had risen from the dead. And indeed he had. That they were told not to be afraid as they would soon see Jesus so to run and tell the others, namely the disciples, what had happened.  

We also know from early eye witness accounts that Jesus did indeed appear to his disciples and to others in Galilee, Jerusalem, and on a road to a place called Emmaus.  We are also told that Jesus appeared, on a variety of occasions, to well over 500 people after his resurrection. While Jesus was bodily raised from the dead as those early eyewitnesses attested to, what we don’t know is exactly what Jesus’ resurrected body looked like.   That said, we do know that his resurrected body was such that people recognized him.

As one writer says, “The resurrection is not some legend.  It is not a symbolic event. It is not something that represents some spiritual higher truth.  When Jesus shows up he says, “Look at my hands and my feet. It is me. A ghost does not have flesh and bones.  Do you have something to eat?’

In saying these things to those who saw him, Jesus in essence is saying, ‘I am not a symbol. I am really here.  I am not just an impression in your mind. I am not just a kind of spiritual presence. I am here. Flesh, and bone.  Touch me.’ Why are these details recorded. Because it happened.”

I love what another writer has to say about this.  Here are some slightly adapted excerpts from Tim Keller.  “Jesus’ resurrection tells us with certainty there is a future for us beyond death.  It also tells us that the future we have beyond death is personal. We all want to be loved.  We all want to be with those we love. The one thing we do not want is to lose those we love. Remember that Jesus shows up in resurrected form and says, ‘It is me.  Look at me. It is me.’ So the future we have after death is personal and those we love are part of it.”

He goes onto write, “But the future is not only personal but certain.  Why do we know this, because of Jesus’ resurrection. Our certain and personal future is love without parting, surrounded by love in which you and others are together.  And the future is not only personal and certain but wonderful, unimaginably wonderful. The resurrection means we are going to miss nothing. This world, sunsets, symphonies, rock concerts, mountain beauty, friends, love, are but whispers, a prologue to a grander story.”

Here is what the theologian JJ Packer wrote, “On earth, people say I don’t want this to end but it does.  In heaven people say I want this to go on forever, and it does.”

Easter and Jesus’ resurrection tell us all that we can trust and count on the fact that there is a future when we die, that such a future is personal and relational, that it is astonishingly wonderful, and that we can be certain of all of this. What great news.  Christ is Risen!!

But as I mentioned earlier, the news of Easter is not just about the future, but also all about how we live now, day in and day out, with a sense of purpose, joy, and confidence.  

A number of years ago there was a study done at UC San Diego. Here are some excerpts from an article published by the University about the study.  

“Many of us go to extraordinary lengths to avoid learning the endings of stories we have yet to read or see, plugging our ears, for example, and loudly repeating ‘la-la-la-la,’ when discussion threatens to reveal the outcome.  But we are wrong and wasting our time, suggests a new study done at the University. Spoilers don’t spoil stories.

Contrary to popular wisdom, spoilers actually seem to enhance enjoyment.  Subjects in the research study significantly preferred the spoiled versions of ironic-twist stories and mysteries.  This was shown in three different experiments. One researcher said, ‘Once you know how a story turns out, it is cognitively easier, you are more comfortable processing information, and can focus on the deeper understanding of the story.’”

I love that last line, “Once you know how a story turns out, you can focus on the deeper understanding of the story.”  So maybe Jesus’ resurrection is not just about what happens next, but perhaps God, in part, gave us the resurrection as a spoiler alert so we can not only focus on the deeper understanding of why we are alive to begin with, but so that we can get to work transforming the world right now, knowing we need not worry about the future.  

Said another way, “If I know I am going to be ok in the long run, I can get to work much harder today with all my strength, because tomorrow is taken care of.”  As NT Wright once said, “God wants us to work to overcome all the wrongs there are in the world knowing what is ahead.”

Because of the resurrection, we can be filled with hope, not only for the future, but for what we can do today.  The resurrection tells us once and for all that despite how things might seem at a given moment, God has been in charge, continues to be in charge, and will always be in charge.  So we can trust God and get to work on God’s behalf.

Remember earlier I mentioned several epitaphs from a variety of gravestones.   There are some great ones at the graves of some celebrities. On Rodney Dangerfield’s headstone it reads, “There goes the neighborhood.”  On Mel Blanc’s headstone, the man who had the great voice for so many Disney cartoons, it says, “That’s all folks.” But there is one I really like.  It is on the headstone of Frank Sinatra. It simply reads, “The Best is Yet to Come.”

What a great epitaph because it reminds us all that beyond this life there is an amazing, wondrous, and beautiful future for us all.  And with this in mind, we can live each day making a big difference in the lives of those around us, by loving God and loving people by what we do, with boundless hope and without fear.  Happy Easter!!!