The Burial of Christ and Community

A few days ago, I pondered the following sequence of Christology.
Life of Christ = Time
Death of Christ = Land
Burial of Christ = Community
Resurrection of Christ = Birthright
Ascension of Christ = Office
And I want to focus on the middle one because of some implications for the season we are approaching soon in terms of reconciliation.
Christ’s burial happened in the context of community.
Granted, it was not the kind of thing one traditionally thinks of when one imagines the word “community” but community it was nonetheless. Nicodemus and Jospeh of Arimathea, two little-known characters, one who came to the L-rd in the middle of the night and provided us with the first half of John 3 in that famous exchange that led to John’s exposition starting in verse 16, and the other unknown until this point, took Jesus’ body and paid him honor.
Let’s consider for a moment the verse that deals explicitly with more of Joseph’s motives.
The text in Mark 15:43 says that he was “a respected member of the council (possibly the Sanhedrin) who was also himself looking for the kingdom of G-d…”.
It is possible that, as a disciple of Jesus, he knew about Jesus’ promise of being resurrected, something about which Jesus himself spoke.  And thus, knowing this, he asked for the body of Jesus.
The kingdom happens in community, not in solitude.  It happens with others.  Joys are experienced, lives are changed and made whole, and it takes the grain of wheat falling to the ground and dying for people to be brought together.
Consider the community of two on the way to Emmaus.
The community of Eleven just before Jesus appeared.
The community of Peter and John running to the tomb.
The community of John and Mary brought together in Jesus’ death.
The community of Joseph and Nicodemus, who were hunting for the kingdom, brought together in order to bury the body of Jesus.
And reconciliation often happens at funerals, and only happens in the context of community.
When others are reconciled to G-d, they are reconciled to a community of Three.  The Trinity is a community.
And salvation often happens when we are faced with mortality, often in light of someone we deeply love being buried.
It’s our job to be reconciled, lest we die alone and in bitterness.
So, I bless you in this season of being reconciled, as you seek to know Him, that you would be reconciled to G-d and to those from whom you have been deeply estranged.  I bless you with a right sense of where your place is.  I bless you with a right sense of who your tribe is.  I bless you with a revelation of where G-d wants you.  And I bless you with an understanding of the depth of His love.
I bless you with the pigheaded stubbornness that comes with recognizing your place and a refusal to bow to the pressures of others who tell you that you have no place.  I bless you with the fierce intentionality that you will not rest (except when He calls you to rest) until you are squarely placed within the communities for which He has designed you.  Whether that is a mission field, or a church, or a family, or the Trinity, or a marriage, or a workplace, or another life-giving context of friendships.
I bless you with the sobering revelation that the Son was buried so that you could be knit and vulnerable with the right people yet again, whatever that looks like for your unique context.
As you struggle to be part of a community, may you find the right one that is life-giving.  I bless you  with this revelation as we enter this season of reconciliation of community.
And I bless you to consider the communities that were formed in the context of Christ’s burial.
No burial. No resurrection.
No burial. No communities of intimacy.
No risk or skin in the game. No thrill of exhilaration as you find your place in community.