Each day during the 40 days of Lent, I am reading one chapter of Judith Couchman’s book, The Mystery of the Cross to prepare for the Resurrection Day. As a result, I have Jesus – His death, burial and resurrection – on my mind. The church will celebrate Jesus’ resurrection one month from today. May I suggest you begin dwelling on the crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. More than a historical event, the resurrection has profound implications.
Lee Strobel, in the Outreach.com article “True or False: Jesus is Alive”, says this story was first told by Alfred Hitchcock, and then recounted in a recent book by David Jeremiah. “It’s not a true story,” says Strobel, “but it is a story with a lesson.”
Strobel writes,
It’s the story of a woman who murdered her husband years ago and was sentenced to life in prison. She vowed that somehow, some way, she’d escape.
As her prison bus approached the penitentiary, she saw an old man, another prisoner, covering up a grave in a small cemetery outside the prison walls. Right then and there, she hatched a plot.
Once inside, she befriended this prisoner. He was going blind and needed cataract surgery. “I’ll give you the money for your surgery if you’ll help me escape,” she said. And he agreed.
Here was the plan: the next time she heard the bell toll, which indicated an inmate had died, she would sneak down to the workroom where he made the casket and slide inside with the body and pull the covering closed. He would wheel the casket out to the cemetery, lower it into the grave and cover it with dirt. But that night, when nobody was watching, he’d return and dig up the casket and set her free.
Late one night, the bell tolled. The woman sneaked down to the workroom. It was dark, but she found the casket, lifted the lid, slipped inside next to the body, pulled the cover over her — and waited.
Sure enough, a few hours later she felt the casket being rolled toward the grave site. She smiled as the casket was lowered into the hole. She heard the clumps of dirt hitting the casket and covering her up. She had done it! She could barely contain her excitement.
Silence followed as she waited in the dark. Time began to drag. Hours passed, then more hours. Finally, she began to worry. She broke out in a cold sweat. Where was that old man? What was keeping him? Can you imagine the emotions that would have coursed through her?
In a moment of panic, she reached into her pocket and took out some matches. As she lit one, she glanced at the corpse beside her — and saw that it was the old man himself.
Her only hope lay buried right next to her!
The lesson for you and me is obvious. This woman had placed her hope in another human being who she sincerely thought would be able to save her—but he went to his grave and ended up taking her with him.
Friends, listen to me: every single religious leader in history is in his grave right now: Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed, all of them — except one, and that’s Jesus Christ. His tomb is empty because He had the power of God to overcome the grave.
So let me ask the question: Who are you going to put your hope in to help you overcome the grave?