BJUnity

Ed. note: Yesterday, seven members of our lgbt-BJU.org board presented their reflections on the Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross, continuing our Holy Week series of Scriptural Views posts. Today, board member Steve Shamblin offers a meditation on Christ in the tomb from the perspective of a former student, staff and faculty member of “The World’s Most Unusual University”… who also happens to be gay.

“After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.” — John 20:38-42 (English Standard Version)

Thinking back over past Easters, I remember very few of the sermons. However, the one thing that I could always count on was a sermon or two to specifically nail down which days Jesus was in the tomb. On campus, we could always expect a sermon, or at least an interjection into a sermon, as to why Bob Jones University did not recognize Good Friday. I specifically remember Bob Jones, Jr. calling Good Friday “a Catholic perversion of the scripture.” Some would try to force the issue that Friday to Sunday was not three full days. Others would preach that Jewish custom allowed for counting part of a day as a day. Still others focused on the fact that scripture uses ordinal numbers (“third”) and not cardinal ones (three). In all of these sermons they missed the point: Jesus was away from everyone, sealed in a tomb, and Scripture is silent until the resurrection.

Many speculate and go back to the Old Testament to fill in the gap. But quite frankly, we do not know. This time of dormancy was a time for change. Herein we find the message of this season: the hope of Easter is that change will happen.

Early civilizations would celebrate the spring and the life that came with it after the three dormant months of winter, a time of longer darkness in the evenings, a time of cold, a time when nature was dead. It was the hope of change that brought them through that time. The hope that spring would bring with it light, warmth, and life.

The Easter story plays out in the spring. Its dormancy period is shortened to cover three days. There was no light of their Teacher, no warmth of His compassion and love, no life in the body that had been sealed away. Like the dormancy period of three months, the three days was a time of despair.

Put yourself in the place of the disciples during this period. It was a time of fear. When Joseph requested the body of Jesus, he did so secretly because of fear. When the tomb was sealed by the government, it was fear. Fear enslaves our actions. Fear entraps our minds. Fear limits us from moving forward. I can well imagine the disciples wondering, “What next?”

Two thousand years after the fact, we have the rest of the story. We know how it ends. But the disciples did not. Even after visiting the empty tomb on Sunday morning, the disciples were stunned. All through this tomb experience and even after seeing the empty tomb, the disciples “did not understand the Scripture” (John 20:9).

In three days, change happened. After the tomb, life happened. After the law, grace happened. In essence, religion changed. It was no longer what it was. It was new; it was progressive. God did not keep the religion of the previous thousand years in place.

Religion continued to change. Fast forward to the book of Acts, and we see one of the early church’s major arguments. Peter who had literally walked beside Jesus wanted to keep the old aspects of the religion he knew and had practiced. Paul, on the other hand, wanted to make changes, saying that those old religious teachings had been changed. Two of the earliest church leaders parted ways because of the fear of change and a new aspect of religion. The early church tried new things. Some worked; others did not. However, the early church was progressive, improving on their ministry. They were not content to let it be the way it always had been. Change happened, and it got better.

Back to our Easter story: a mystery still lies in the tomb. The Scriptures do not specifically say what Jesus did while he was in the tomb. Again, I have heard so many sermons speculating what happened, where He went, what He did. The sermons go to other parts of the Bible to try to fill in the missing link. Why the silence during this dormancy period? Why would scripture be silent during this pivotal moment of change in religion? It is obvious in the scriptures that details have been left out and, therefore, are not meant to be known.

All too often men are quick to speak for God. They want to be authoritative where they have no basis upon which to do so. Often, like the disciples during the silent time, fear takes hold and they feel they must speak. Fear makes churches proclaim that “We have always believed and practiced this way.” Fear makes Christian universities proclaim “There are no gays here.”

The hope of Easter is that change will come. Religion progresses; it always has. Jesus gave us the example. He set a new course. He did not stay around to dictate to the early church. He allowed them to find their way, to experiment. He allowed it to change and progress.

Thankfully, religion still progresses. Even in America’s short history, we can witness progress in the churches. Separate Easter services for black people and white people were being held as recently as 70 years ago. The color of a person’s skin was a factor in many churches’ worship services and institutional policies. Divorced people were denied membership or participation in many churches as recently as 40 years ago.

The issue today is that many churches and religious schools are stuck in the tomb. They have allowed the fear of dormancy to enslave them, to entrap their thinking, to prevent them from moving forward. In this season, I am sure they will still be speculating upon those things that are silent in the scripture. The sermon will deny Good Friday. The sermon will attempt to explain the date of burial. The sermon will attempt to explain what happened during the time in the tomb. They will preach about the aspects of the resurrection morning.

But they will continue to miss the underlying message: the hope of Easter is that change will come.

Let us hope. Let us change.

Steve Shamblin
Director of Public Advocacy
lgbt-BJU.org