STATION 14: JESUS IS PLACED IN THE TOMB
Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a long sheet of clean linen cloth. He placed it in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance and left. Both Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting across from the tomb and watching.
— Matthew 27:59-61 (New Living Translation)
Station 14
The last station takes us deeper inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to a building inside an enormous rotunda. This building, called the Empty Tomb, is the traditional site of Jesus’ burial in that borrowed tomb on Good Friday. This was an important site for worship in the years following Jesus’ death, even before there was an official church placed here. The ornate building now covers the original site.
Whether or not this is the actual spot where the events of Good Friday ended and the events of Easter morning began, pilgrims flock to the rotunda each day. It is an impressive structure, outside of which people lift their voices in praise, thanksgiving, supplication, and joy.
We, too, come to be near Jesus this day. Not by being in Jerusalem, but by walking in his steps, as we have considered his path through the streets to the cross. We, too, come to be near Jesus, to reach out to our Savior in praise, thanksgiving, supplication, and joy.
We remember this day how his disciples grieved as they walked away from the tomb, knowing that it was finished.
But we also remember that Good Friday was not the end of the story.
Thanks be to God! Hallelujah!
Let us pray.
Gracious God, as we finish walking these stations of the cross, we pray once more in silence, that you would open our spirits to you this Good Friday.
Amen!
